quiet Archives

The newness of life

Those of us who live in Texas are already enjoying the beginning of spring. The trees have begun to bud and the bulbs are shooting up with the promise of the flowers we will soon enjoy. And the ground is covered with pollen making everyone sneeze. (Not everything is perfect about spring in Texas!)

It’s hard not to smile when we look around at all God is able to produce from the earth, shrubs, and trees that only a few weeks ago looked dead. God’s creation is one of the best illustrations of God’s character. He is represented in all four seasons because each has a unique meaning and purpose for our lives.

Jesus spoke with the Apostle John on the island of Patmos saying, “I am making everything new!” Then Jesus told John, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true” (Revelation 21:5). Jesus had just told John about the perfection of heaven and all that God’s people could look forward to when they gained their eternal lives. Jesus told John to write down all that he said about heaven because his words were “trustworthy and true.”

Imagine the hope those words gave John, an elderly man living in exile and enduring hardship and pain each day. No matter what we possess on earth, it doesn’t compare with the riches of heaven. No matter what we face in our earthly lives, we have a great and powerful hope because of Christ.

Our lives have seasons too

God is always inching us closer to heaven, the place where we will truly have the peace-filled life he wants for us. Heaven is the place where we will finally comprehend how much we are loved by our Creator.

The hope of heaven is as real as the hope of each spring. Aren’t you glad we can celebrate Easter this time of year? God’s timing is exquisite. Jesus “looked” dead when they placed his body in the tomb, but the only thing that had died was the power of sin. Christians emerge from the baptismal waters to witness to the world that they have been made new.

Our faith practices shout to the world that Jesus was raised from the dead and, through faith, that can be true for everyone. Each spring season is the chance to remember we are one year closer to our final, eternal rebirth.

A new focus

I like this quote from a character named Socrates in Way of the Peaceful Warrior: “The secret to change is to focus all of your energy not on fighting the old, but on building the new.”

Most of us look forward to each season and the promise of change. As wonderful as spring is, we look forward to the warm days of summer. When we grow tired of the heat and dried-up flowers, we are presented with the amazing colors of the fall. And, after the fullness of the fall season fades and the lights of the holidays are boxed up, we rejoice at the quiet simplicity of the winter months.

When we embrace the changes in life, we enjoy the God who provides each season. This world is a reminder that change is an inevitable gift provided by our unchanging God. God never changes because he is perfect and doesn’t need to change. Our world tells a much different story.

It’s good to gain a new focus with each season of the year and with every season of our lives. God will always step into our plans with his will to “make everything new” again. His plan is to prosper us and not to harm us as Jeremiah 29:11 makes clear.

God gave us this season

It might surprise you to know that I struggle every Easter to embrace the joy. I’m actually grateful for the Monday after Easter Sunday. It breaks my heart to remember all that Jesus endured to provide for our celebration. In many ways, the Easter story is about the price paid for our sins. I’m sad Easter Sunday was necessary. I don’t ever want to forget that the majority of the Easter story was incredibly difficult for everyone who loved Jesus.

We can’t know the depth of God’s love for us until we understand the depth of his commitment to us. God gave us his Son. God gave us Easter. God gave us spring as our annual reminder that only he can give life to what was dead.

God holds our future. He doesn’t reveal it.

The disciples would probably describe the days between Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday as the most difficult week of their lives. In the space of one week, joy turned to fear, fear to distress, distress to anguish, and then anguish to uncertainty. It would be a while before uncertainty turned to joy. Our future will have each of those emotions as well.

I like this quote from the Christian author Bob Goff: “Embrace uncertainty. Some of the most beautiful chapters in our lives won’t have a title until much later.” It might be a surprise to some but the title is often the most difficult part of what we author. Oftentimes, my title changes as a blog post, Bible study, or book evolves.

The same is true with life. We think we know our direction and then God guides us to a different place. How is your life different from your past thoughts, goals, or dreams?

God doesn’t reveal our future but instead holds it in the palm of his hand. He feeds our life with breadcrumbs, one direction at a time. Christians know our destination, but we each have our own path to take in order to arrive there.

We know the next season will come, but we don’t know what we will be doing when it arrives. As Bob Goff suggested, we should “embrace” the uncertainty. Each chapter can’t really be titled until it has been lived.

Enjoy spring but meditate on Easter

Once again, Jesus is making all things new. Enjoy watching the trees bud and the bulbs send out their flowers. But, don’t forget to grab a tissue before your afternoon walk. It’s spring (at least here in Texas)! If you live in Wyoming, think of this blog post as a promise for your future.

For all of us, it’s time to do some deep thinking about all this season meant to our Lord. Jesus came so that one day we could leave this changing world and enter the perfection God has always wanted for his creation.

Let every hint of spring serve to remind us that God can give life to what was dead. Let’s embrace the changes of life and the newness of each season knowing that each one moves us a little closer to our promise of eternal joy.

Jesus said, “I am making everything new!”

Those words are trustworthy truth all of us can embrace.

A new option for Christian living

How do we live in the world but not of it?

How do we keep ourselves holy, meaning separated for God, and still live as a witness?

How do we guard our thoughts and watch television too?

It helps to know that God’s people have been trying to figure out how to live for God ever since Adam and Eve were sent out of the Garden. Sin really did complicate life!

The Benedict Option

Rod Dreher published a book in 2019 titled The Benedict Option. It caused a stir when it came out with some Christians making a case for it and others speaking against his ideas.

Dreher had been a Roman Catholic and became part of the Eastern Orthodox faith. He was familiar with the life and teaching of St. Benedict. The Benedictine monks are still known for retreating from the world completely in order to live separate lives dedicated to the church.

Dreher’s book suggests Christians should do something similar if they want to keep their lives holy in our current Western culture. The book discusses the great need to protect our children from the abundance of anti-Christian influences in this digital age.

Dreher discusses filters to be put on computers and televisions. He suggests the need to create communities of like-minded Christians who share life, raise kids together, educate kids in homes, and preserve the innocence that children deserve to have.

In many ways, the Benedict Option is like the original intent of the Holy Land, a place where outside influence was limited and God’s people lived and worked together. One of the big weaknesses of living with the Benedict Option is that there is very little in Dreher’s book that would enable evangelism.

How do we live separate from the world and still “go and make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19)?

The church community

Almost every church website uses the word community in its description of itself. Churches used to reflect the community they were located in and defined their mission field as the neighbors living nearby.

The popularity of the megachurch changed a lot of that. People now drive a lot of miles to go to a church that has become their community. Large churches build gyms, establish schools, and include Christian bookstores, children’s organized sports, and even popular coffee bars and restaurants. Churches want to help provide their members with everything they need to live as a community of believers. Many of these churches have helped their members avoid the influence of the world.

The downside is that a lot of the smaller, neighborhood churches have grown even smaller or have closed their doors. They don’t have the funds necessary to provide a lot of what the megachurches can offer. It might be more difficult to attract new members if you have less to offer.

Another weakness of the megachurch is the lack of accountability. You can join a large church and pick and choose what you would like to attend and how often you want to attend. You can get lost or go unnoticed in the crowd unless you work at getting involved.

The megachurch has been accused of creating a generation of consumer Christians. It used to be that God’s people were taught to join a church that God had called them to serve; now people often join the church they feel suits their needs.

One of my favorite quotes is from William Temple, an English Anglican Priest who died in 1944. He said, “The Church is the only institution that exists primarily for the benefit of those who are not its members.” Eighty to ninety years later, would William Temple describe our modern churches that way?

Paul’s option for Christian living

Scripture contains two letters that the Apostle Paul wrote to the Thessalonian Christians. In 1 Thessalonians 4, Paul wrote about living as a community of Christian believers in Macedonia.

Macedonia was a region of Roman colonies, much of which was located on the coast and thrived on the shipping industry. Lydia had her purple dye business in Thyatira and was quite prosperous. The Christian faith spread throughout the region, but many of the churches spoken about in the book of Revelation were located in Macedonia.

The influence of the world crossed the border daily as ships docked in the ports. The Roman government required the people’s allegiance, taxes, and attention. The Greek philosophers and entertainers filled the coliseums and theatres sharing their gods, their values, and their influence. In many ways, the letters to the Thessalonians could be Paul’s letters to Western culture today.

Paul told the Christians living in Thessalonica “to aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we instructed you, so that you may walk properly before outsiders and be dependent on no one” (1 Thessalonians 4:11–12).

How would Paul want Christians to live?

With a quiet, careful witness to those outside the faith.
To work hard, earning their own way in life.
To live with integrity and character in the eyes of others.
To love and care for one another as a community, not depending on those in the world for support.

A new option for Christian living

The new option for Christian living is actually the ancient way.

As mentioned earlier, that was God’s plan for the Holy Land. God wanted to prosper his people as a witness to the world. God wanted the world to notice his people so that unbelievers would want to know their God. God gave them a land “flowing with milk and honey” and promised to care for them if they would remain faithful.

Old Testament history tells the rest of the story. As a result, God so loved the world, he gave us Jesus.

We know how to live as a Christian community of believers. We are called to live with the Spirit of Christ.

We should enjoy our faith. We should enjoy our faithful friends and family. We should enjoy the blessings God will give to those who walk with him.

We should aspire to live quiet, peace-filled lives of integrity. We won’t be perfect, but if we “aspire” or “make it our ambition” to live this way, our lives will stand out in the increasing chaos of this culture. It isn’t a Benedictine lifestyle, but it is a Spirit-led lifestyle.

What kind of life will you aspire to live?

This might be a good time to think and pray about that.

A Christmas gift

Christmas is almost here.

Even as I type, I am picturing my blog readers doing so many different things.

Maybe you are sitting in an airport waiting for your flight.

Maybe you are checking emails right before you start completing the to-do list for the day.

Maybe you are remembering past Christmas seasons and wishing this one was more like those.

Whatever your day and your Christmas look like this year, you can know that I pray your Christmas day will be filled with the holy Presence of Christ.

A gift for you

I would like to give you a Christmas gift that I, and several of us at the ministry, have been working on.

When you have a moment, I want you to go to the App Store on your cell phone and download my gift to you: the new (and free) Foundations Bible app!

My Christmas gift to you is something that will last all year and is called Wisdom Matters.

The readings don’t officially begin until January 1, but I wanted my readers to have advanced notice!

What is Wisdom Matters?

I did some checking and found that almost everyone checks their phone at night before going to bed. Wisdom Matters is an evening devotional I would love for you to have at the end of each day.

In fact, the “tagline” says, “At the end of the day . . . Wisdom Matters.”

God called me to write and record Wisdom Matters because we need to end our days going to sleep with an important thought about God. Wisdom Matters is a devotional written to help us know God at deeper levels by offering us a meditation from his word each evening.

In many ways, writing these devotions has been a blessing for me. On a personal level, this year has been intense, and dwelling on the timeless wisdom and truth of God’s word has been therapeutic. I was fascinated as I wrote how absolutely relevant God’s word remains thousands of years later. Wisdom matters most because it is timeless, God-authored truth.

We don’t lack “words” in our world, and information is always one “google” away. But how do we process the information we learn? Do facts alone drive our decisions, or does God have a higher plan?

I have often said, “In a sea of information, wisdom matters.”

I want you, my readers, to know about Wisdom Matters first. Please receive this gift from me this Christmas.

Beginning January 1, a new devotion will arrive on your phone around 8 p.m. CST, and maybe you can get in the habit of making God’s word part of your final thoughts for the day.

I believe he will speak his thoughts and even author a dream or two if you do. He has certainly been speaking to my heart as I write these!

I wish you a blessed and Merry Christmas

Whatever your Christmas season looks like this year, know that I, and all of us who serve the Foundations ministry, want to wish you a joy-filled and Christ-centered Christmas. Jesus truly is the most wonderful gift we could ever receive!

James 1:17 reminds us that “every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.”

“Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift!” (2 Corinthians 9:15).

We truly wish you a blessed and merry Christmas!

The quiet moments of Christmas

Quiet moments are rare these days, especially at Christmas. We live during a time in history when there is always something available to divert our attention. Have you noticed kids rarely say “I’m bored” anymore? Adults don’t say it very often either. We can always glance at a screen and find something interesting to fill our thoughts.

God said, “Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!” (Psalm 46:10). There is something about complete silence that fills our thoughts with the greatness of God.

WebMD has an interesting article saying, “Even just five minutes of sitting quietly can have a transformative effect on your entire day.” The article paraphrases a quote from Blaise Pascal saying, “All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone.”

How would a few moments of silence change our day?

Scripture says, “Be still, and know that I am God.” Could it be that when people do not take time to be still, they forget there truly is a God? Is the pace and noise in our world one of the reasons for our statistics these days?

The WebMD article encouraged five minutes of silence and then discussed all of the many things that can distract us from that time. The article suggested people focus on their breathing to gain a sense of silence. God would suggest we focus on the One who gave us the air and the ability to breathe.

How would it change our day if we spent at least five minutes quietly thinking about God and all he has done for us?

How would those moments change your relationship with your Creator?

How would those moments change whom you spoke with or helped today?

Five minutes with the Lord

People will spend an hour waiting for their children to see Santa this week. People will wait in long lines to check out just so they can purchase a gift for someone they care about. How long would you have waited in line at the Bethlehem manger if it meant you could have glimpsed the baby Jesus?

Habakkuk 2:20 says, “But the Lᴏʀᴅ is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him.” When Jesus died on the cross, the veil in the temple was torn from top to bottom. The veil was the thickness of a man’s hand. Only God could have “torn” it that way. God wanted us to know that, because of Jesus, we could come into his holy Presence. Christians can spend our “five minutes” of silence each day at the feet of the Creator God.

We can be still and know God. We can recognize his perfect greatness and exalt him as our King. We can realize that he is our Abba Father and we are his children.

If I could spend five minutes with my dad today, I would do whatever was necessary to be there. That five minutes would not feel like enough time, but I would do it every day if I could. Who would you love to spend five minutes with each day?

We have the gift of God’s presence anytime we seek him. Words aren’t even necessary. We can just enter the holy temple and sit at his feet. He invited us to do that the moment his Son died for us. The God of the universe wants you to know him and spend time with him.

Just do it

Silence is a spiritual exercise. It doesn’t help to think about it; it only helps if you “just do it.” I’ve written before about becoming a “Nike Christian.” Sometimes the greatest weakness we have is that we “know” enough about God and we believe that means we actually “know” him.

We can know God if we take the time to “be still and know” that he is God. Jesus said, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” (Matthew 5:8). If we spend our moments of quiet for the sake of purifying our hearts and minds, we can enter the temple and “see God” with our hearts and minds.

Paul taught that Christians should make their lives a “living sacrifice” in Romans 12:1. The next verse helps us understand how to do that: “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect” (Romans 12:2).

How would our minds be renewed and our lives be transformed if we stepped away from the world, even for just a few minutes each day, to sit quietly at the feet of our holy God?

Don’t just think about it—do it.

Silence is strength for your soul

God told Isaiah to tell the people, “In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength, but you were unwilling” (Isaiah 30:15).

It must be difficult for God to know he has our greatest help and is willing to give us all that we need. Yet he honors our free wills, even when we refuse his blessings.

How will your Christmas season change with quiet rest?

This might be the perfect time of year to discover a daily time of pure quiet rest in the Presence of God. We could develop a new habit that would carry us through the holiday rush and lead us into the next year knowing God in deeper ways.

Will you choose now to spend five minutes of pure silence at the feet of God?

Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise. Now, in complete reverent silence, climb the steps to the Holy of Holies and enter through the torn veil. God is there and waiting for you, his child.

Be still, and know he is your God. Keep complete silence before him. You aren’t there to “ask” as much as you are there to listen. Remain at his feet, undistracted for at least five minutes. That time will change you as a result.

Keep returning to the temple each day and that time with God will become your favorite time of the day. Remember: it is in “returning and rest” that God can accomplish his work in your life. Quietness and trust will become your great strength. And don’t we need that for the rest of the day!

The only question left is will you just do it?

The God of the universe, your Father, is waiting for your visit. Start with five minutes of complete silence each day and he will take it from there. He is a good Father and wants to bless and guide your life.

God is worthy of our time, our praise, and our attention.

Will you freely give all that he deserves?

Taking time isn’t wasting time

Ilove the quiet.

Sometimes the noise levels in our culture seem extreme.

As I pass by other people on my morning walk, I so often see them using ear pods and cell phones for company, education, or entertainment. There is a lot of information available online.

Our ministry provides a lot of “God-information” online.

But, I wonder how often the people I pass take time away from the “talk” to hear the voice of God speak to their thoughts.

The power of the quiet

Last winter, we lost power for most of the day for several days. The quiet was eerie. Even as I type, I can hear the fan running on our air conditioner, the washing machine sloshing the clothes around, and the keys of my computer tapping out these words.

We are seldom without noises, even in the quiet hours of the night. Things would have been very different in the first century. The kind of quiet that seemed eerie to me last winter would have been normal back then.

I don’t just appreciate the quiet; I need it. I often pick the early hours of the morning to write because, in the quiet, I can hear my own thoughts being redirected by God’s. I’ve often thought about the quiet David enjoyed while he was in the fields, watching the sheep. He probably spent a lot of time learning to play the harp and use his slingshot. He also had plenty of time to look around at the created world and think about God.

I imagine there were days he thought his life was boring and dull. I imagine he wished to be like his brothers, doing exciting things on the battlefield. David couldn’t know as a young man that God was growing him up to be a great king. He couldn’t know that generations of people would be blessed by the Twenty-third Psalm he wrote about God’s holy presence in our lives.

I’m sure there were days when David looked for distractions, but it was the quiet that enabled him to know God. Knowing God enabled David to be a king. Quiet can be a powerful tool in the Lord’s hand. It’s important to take the time to be quiet in this noisy world. We should ask God to speak his thoughts into the quiet moments and author our thoughts.

Who would we become in this world if we spent a lot of quiet time thinking with God?

Wise words for your walk

Paul spent time in the deserts of Arabia after he left Damascus. I think those were among the most important years of his life. He went from the highest levels of the demanding life of a Pharisee to months of quiet days spent in faithful desolation.

I imagine those quiet days in the desert helped him create the theology of the Christian faith that he would take on his missionary journeys and include in his many letters. I don’t think we can estimate the value of Paul’s months, possibly years, of quiet reflection.

Paul told the Ephesians, “Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is” (Ephesians 5:15–17).

Some of Paul’s meaning gets lost in the English translation. He had just told the church to “wake up.” The culture of Ephesus was a lot like the American culture. Living in Ephesus was living in an oceanfront resort city with all manner of distraction. They had industry, education, entertainment, politics, and religions. The people who lived there did not lack for distraction, Christians included.

That’s why Paul told them to “wake up” and “look carefully” at how they were walking through their lives. He told them to make the “best use of the time, because the days are evil.” The word evil is best understood as anything that isn’t God’s purpose in our lives. We miss Paul’s point if we define evil like the dictionary would.

There is God’s plan for our lives, and everything else is not God’s plan. “Therefore,” Paul says, “do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.” Foolish, according to Paul, is spending time doing things that aren’t part of God’s plan for our lives. The opposite of foolish is understanding God’s will and doing that.

If Paul were our counselor, he would have us examine the way we spend our time and list which moments are spent accomplishing God’s purpose and plan. Next, we would make a list of the things that don’t.

The first list is the “best” use of our time, and the second list we could label “foolish.”

Taking time isn’t wasting time

The great balance in the Christian life is understanding that taking time for the quiet isn’t wasting time in our “walk.” A quick glance at almost every book of the Bible will tell you that God’s people have always struggled with understanding what God wants us to do with our time.

The Israelites wanted to serve God. They ran into problems when they substituted serving rules and requirements for serving God. God doesn’t want our time commitment unless it also includes a commitment of our hearts.

God wants us to listen when he speaks. God wants us to understand the directions the Holy Spirit is speaking into our hearts and minds. God wants us to be wise about how we spend our time because the way we spend our time on earth directly impacts our lives eternal.

God owns the big picture, the eternal picture. When we take time to listen, pray, and study, we will spend time developing into the person who can walk through life directed by God’s Spirit.

I wonder who David would have been if he had spent his free time on a cell phone or computer. I doubt he would have volunteered to take down Goliath with a slingshot. If David had listened to music and podcasts all the time, would he have created his own psalms?

If Paul hadn’t taken the time to be alone with God in the desert, would he have been able to comprehend how the Old Testament laws were fulfilled by the life of Christ? Would he have understood his calling was to take the gospel to the Gentiles? Imagine our New Testament without Paul’s letters of theology.

It takes a lot of time with God to learn to walk with his Spirit. Your time with him is an eternal investment.

Take time

We spend a lot of time planning for a vacation. We research then make reservations. We spend time planning for the things we want to see and do. Finally, we make plans to ensure that everything will run smoothly at home while we are gone. What would a vacation be like if we didn’t take the time to plan for it?

What would Paul say to us if we spent more time planning a vacation from our daily lives than we did planning for God to use our daily lives?

If we don’t take time, we can waste our time.

What if our Bible heroes had avoided time with God?

Would David ever have been a king?

Would Paul ever have become a Christian missionary and theologian?

Taking time to be quiet isn’t wasting time. Instead, it’s probably the most important use of time for our choices today and our eternal reward.

How will you spend time walking quietly with God’s counsel today?

He will enjoy having that time with you.

In the desert but not deserted: Part 2

God always has a plan for the desert times in our lives. Most times we land there, God is simply providing us some down time, so that we can listen. Everyone experiences desert times, caused by any number of things. Last week I wrote about the desert seasons of our lives that are natural to our journey and the dry times God intends to use for our discipline and growth.

Today, I want to write about most of the desert times in our lives. A desert time is simply a quiet, often spiritually dry time in our lives.

Often we expect our earthly lives to be less challenging than they are. We have become a culture that expects our lives to be easier than God has promised. This is true of the Christian culture as well. We live in a period of time when many Christian leaders have said if we do A, then God will do B.

Beware of sermons that promise an easy life to those who walk closely with God. Biblical truth, like Romans 8:28, is that when we walk closely with God, he is with us in every circumstance and able to redeem those moments for our great good.

Paul had an un-removed thorn in the flesh. Peter was crucified upside down. John was exiled on the island of Patmos. All of us know strong Christians who have received a difficult diagnosis. Sometimes God’s saints struggle with a difficult child or an unhappy marriage. Sometimes we enter a desert because of our own choices, but most of the time our deserts exist as a normal part of our journey to heaven.

There are at least three types of deserts, and it is helpful to know why we are crossing through a dry time:

• Is this just a normal part of our earthly journey?

• Are we there because God wants to discipline and help us make changes?

• Or, has God provided the desert time for direction or deliverance?

THE DESERTS OF DIRECTION

Most of us live fast-paced, full lives. As we age, we tend to replace speed with routine. There are a lot of ways to move through our lives that cause us to program out the voice and leadership of God. We know to pray and seek God when things aren’t going well, but it’s often the regular, routine parts of our lives that cause us to live according to our own thoughts and ideas rather than God’s.

It’s no surprise that God would lead us to a desert so he can break our routine and cause us to seek his leadership. The best way to avoid a few of those deserts is to live our lives knowing we have a constant, daily need for his voice. We only think we know our schedules this week. When we made Jesus our Lord, we gave him permission to interrupt our routines any time, for his good purpose.

If our lives are simply a product of our routine choices, we should probably pack our bags for a stay in the desert. If God can’t direct our paths, he will probably direct us to the desert. We often quote Proverbs 3:5-6 but have we allowed God’s word to mean what it says?

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him and he will direct your path” (Proverbs 3:5-6). This verse is written in a Rabbinic teaching method. The second part of the sentence is a restatement of the first. Here is why that matters:

Trusting in the Lord with all our hearts means that we do not lean on our own understanding.

Picture yourself on a bridge, with rushing water underneath. Some parts of the railing are fragile while others are secure. Don’t we want the maker of the bridge to tell us which parts of the railing are safe to lean on?

In all our ways, if we acknowledge that God is perfect and we aren’t, then we will allow him to direct our path. The key to that verse is the word “all.” Sometimes the routines of life cause us to keep doing things like we have always done them. We direct our own paths along what is familiar instead of allowing God to lead.

GOD’S PLAN TO DIRECT YOUR PATH

If God can’t direct your plans each day, he will likely lead you to a desert place until you understand your need for his leadership. A day-to-day routine or a life that is too programmed and rushed doesn’t allow God to call you to his work – the work that matters eternally.

If our lives are full of things that matter, but not the things that matter most, God will want to provide us with new directions.

Is God re-directing your career path? Is God re-directing your daily routine? Is God re-directing your friendships? Is God re-directing your priorities? Sometimes the Lord just needs you in another place for a certain amount of time because he has a job for you to do. Sometimes the Lord turns our lives in a completely different direction.

He often uses the desert times in our lives to “direct our paths.” What should we do during that time? “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and don’t lean on your understanding.”

If a committee had put together a plan to move the Israelites into the chosen land it is almost certain the members of the committee would not have chosen to cross when the waters were flooded. They would have leaned on their own understanding. Interestingly, the reason the people of Jericho were terrified of the Israelites when they arrived is because they had already heard about the power of their God.

God’s ways are perfect, but if you look at the bulk of Scripture, God’s plans are often outside the scope of men’s natural, reasoned choices. If our lives are limited to our choices, we are limiting what God wants to do through our lives. His direction matters eternally for us and for our witness to others.

THE DESERTS OF DELIVERANCE

Finally I want to talk about the desert times we need, that God provides. There are more of these times in our lives than I think we realize. Have you become “weary in well doing?” Have you been through a time of great grief, loneliness, sickness or of great service to God?

Sometimes we come to a time when we need significant rest, and God provides us a desert of deliverance.

God created us to need rest and therefore he provides us the time to rest when we need it. I love the verse from the prophet Isaiah that says, “For the Lord comforts Zion; he comforts all her waste places and makes her wilderness like Eden, her desert like the garden of the Lord; joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and the voice of song” (Isaiah 51:3).

One of the most important lessons from our desert times of life is the knowledge that God walks them with us providing comfort and all we need until we come to a place of thanksgiving and praise. Our desert times have a beginning and an end. More importantly, our desert times have a good purpose.

WHAT DESERTS DO YOU REMEMBER?

To close, we should ask God to remind us of the desert times in our own lives. It was probably difficult to praise him at first, but what did you learn? How did God deliver you from that time? Isn’t it interesting that we most often remember what God taught us, rather than why those times were difficult?

I think that is what God would have us know as we exit the desert time labeled “COVID.” We should try to remember what God taught us during those days.

My favorite verse for the desert times is from the prophet Isaiah. He wrote, “Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert” (Isaiah 43:18-19).

God is always redeeming our deserts for a new purpose in our lives. It has been tough, and now, for most of us, it isn’t. God is working to make himself known in this world. God is providing a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. A few years ago we prayed for God to end the drought and he did. A year ago we prayed for God to end the plague of COVID and he did.

What are you praying for today?

Our desert times have a purpose because they were part of God’s plan. When you enter a desert time– and you will– take the journey with God. He brought you to that time for a reason, and his promise is to redeem it for your good, if you will walk that desert with his good purpose in mind. (From Romans 8:28).

May your journey forward be blessed with the comfort of God’s presence. He is good; all the time.

It’s time to take a break

What does vacation 2020 look like for you?

The cruise industry has been sending catalogs lately—for 2021.

The airlines are making adjustments—but I’m still not ready to get on a plane.

So, I’ve decided I need a good staycation. I need to rest, but, most importantly, I need my mind to rest.

3 steps to a rested mind and a rested soul

Vacations are a good idea. I don’t own a Winnebago so I am going to have a great staycation.

I can’t rest if I continue to do what I have been doing. A good break requires a few changes. Since I won’t have a change of scenery, I need to change what I am doing with the view I have.

Step 1: Eliminate the noise . . . I mean news

It’s time to turn off the news—a.k.a. noise.

I’m seriously frustrated with the lack of objective reporting these days. I’m not going to change their drama, but I can turn it off.

When I heard that Walter Cronkite had passed away, I was sad. My next thought was, “So has his style of reporting.”

The old Dragnet show used to say, “Just the facts, ma’am.” That’s what we need.

How does a person find “just the facts, ma’am”?

Click on a headline page from your favorite paper and only read the article if you need to know more.

Most of the time, the headline is sufficient. There just isn’t a reason to fill our minds with the angst of today’s news, especially if the reporters are working hard to create angst, as opposed to “just the facts, ma’am.”

We can’t rest our minds if we keep filling them with the world’s opinions. Hit the off button on the news for a while and remember what King Solomon told us: “A fool gives full vent to his spirit, but a wise man quietly holds it back” (Proverbs 29:11).

What would King Solomon say about television these days!

Step 2: Increase the quiet

What calms your heart and mind? Quiet music? A great book? An early-morning walk? An extended time of prayer?

Everyone is different. I wish I were hiking in the coolness of the mountains, enjoying the view.

I can’t do that right now, but I can get up early and enjoy a long walk in my neighborhood. I’ve really enjoyed waving at neighbors. That is one of my COVID blessings.

There is something powerful about pure quiet. Could it be because that is when God’s voice is loud?

The prophet Isaiah said, “For thus said the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, ‘In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength’ (Isaiah 30:15). But the rest of that verse matters as well. Isaiah went on to tell God’s people, “But you were unwilling.”

Quiet is something most people don’t choose, but they desperately need it.

Our spiritual strength is found in the quiet, when we listen to and trust God’s voice in our lives.

Are we willing?

Step 3: Step off the treadmill and find your path

It often feels like our lives are spent running hard on a treadmill. We do what we need to do to have a healthy life, but, at the end of the day, we are still in the same place we started.

The treadmill of life is necessary. We need to survive. But, life isn’t just about surviving. God wanted more for his kids. We need to take time and rest from our normal activities if we want to rest our souls.

The prophet Jeremiah was speaking for God when he said, “Thus says the Lord: ‘Stand by the roads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls’” (Jeremiah 6:16).

It isn’t enough to just know you need to get back to the “Walter Cronkite” days. (We only had three channels back then. Maybe that was a good idea?)

A lot of people only had one car. Most homes had a front porch with chairs. We had four-foot fences so the kids and the dogs could stay safe, but we could still see over them and have a conversation with our neighbors.

How “tall” is your fence today?

It isn’t enough to just wish for the “ancient paths” or simply remember them. The Lord said to stand on those roads and “look.” Ask him for those ancient paths because they are the “good way.”

But, when we know the good way, we have to choose to “walk” there. It’s then we find rest for our souls.

However, Jeremiah 6:16 ends with words similar to Isaiah’s: “You will find rest for your souls,” but the people said, “We will not walk in it.”

What would you say?

It’s time to rest

I wish knowing God’s word was the same thing as “living” God’s word. The Pharisee within me is often satisfied with knowing instead of doing.

I know I’m supposed to rest, and I will! There will be less news and more quiet, and I will choose to do those things that cause my soul to rest. It’s time to take a break from the angst and remember that the God who created the world is more than capable of running it!

Things are better than they seem when we see them through God’s truth. There is a reason Jesus said, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).

We know that verse, but will we “do it”?

I’m going to.

My blog will be silent for a couple of weeks and, hopefully, my life will as well. I’m ready for some quiet, and I’m ready to rest myself and my soul. I will be back at my computer later. For now, I wish for you a couple of weeks of quiet as well.

Now, I’m off to “do” almost nothing.

Blessings.

Turn Your Eyes to Jesus

I grew up singing hymns in church, and I often use those familiar words to focus my thoughts on the Lord.

I wasn’t sure what to write about this week, so I prayed and asked the Lord what he wanted to say. I’ve learned to remain in prayer and quiet my thoughts so I can hear his.

During those quiet moments, I remembered these words to a favorite hymn: “Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in his wonderful face. And the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of his glory and grace.”

I ended my prayer time with a smile on my face and reached for my computer.

Turn your eyes away

It’s important to stay up with all that is going on in our world, but it’s easy to be consumed by the news and our need to know. Sometimes we need to turn our eyes away from news and focus on the One who transcends all news.

We have often heard it said that information is power. There is no doubt that knowing the facts about COVID-19 will keep us safer. We all have smart choices to make and wrong choices to avoid.

That said, one thing we have all noticed lately is that the facts we hear on the news may or may not be facts tomorrow or next week. There is still a lot to learn about this virus.

We should allow the television news to guide our choices. We should also trust God’s Spirit to guide our thoughts and calm our fears. Jesus said, “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come” (John 16:13).

We should turn our eyes away from what might be facts so that we can seek God’s voice. It comforts me to remember that if I read his words in Scripture, they are certain. God’s word has been truth for every generation and remains truth today.

If we turn our eyes away from the news to God’s word, we learn: “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!” (Romans 11:33).

Turn your eyes toward the past

What does God’s word give us that the news cannot?

We are all trying to understand what is not understandable. I find comfort in the fact that we have a lot in common with every generation that has lived before us.

It has been a long time since preachers focused their sermons on things like hell, plagues, judgment, and fears. The popular sermons today focus on topics that make people feel better about themselves. The subject of most sermons are often about forgiveness, understanding, and comfort. The truth of God is in the totality of his word.

I’ve wondered if our younger generations have been strengthened by their faith during these days—or if they have felt confused and “let down” by what God has allowed to happen. Did we prepare them with the whole truth of Scripture or just part of God’s story?

God promised Isaiah, “Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand” (Isaiah 41:10). Isaiah’s peers were taken captive by Babylon for seventy years.

Jesus told his disciples, “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). Jesus didn’t promise that believers wouldn’t have times of crisis; he promised we would.

Every generation experiences a crisis in the world. In light of the past, the COVID crisis of our generation is just one of many. Previous generations were running for shelters, afraid of the bombs. Our great-grandparents and grandparents sent their children to other countries, to carry guns and fight wars. This virus has been described as a “war,” but I’m glad that my war isn’t like the one my great-grandparents feared.

When we look at history, we find people of great faith in every generation. All of those people endured “tribulation” of some kind. Every generation of God’s people have been “dismayed” and in need of God’s “help” because every generation has experienced “tribulation.”

When we look to the past, we realize we are only part of a much larger story. The provision of God for this crisis has already been promised. If we look toward the past, we can understand our present and find hope for our future.

Turn your eyes upon Jesus

Our ministry has been fielding a lot of questions about COVID-19 these days:

Is this God’s judgment on our world?
Could this be a sign of the end times?
Should we shelter in fear, or live in faith?
What is God saying to us in these days?

People want answers today for questions that history will answer one day.

In this “age of information,” we need to remember that the truth God gave Isaiah thousands of years ago is still truth today. God said, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:8–9).

We want answers for our world that only God can give. Until God provides those answers, we have a more important goal. I often think of the fact that I am “sheltered” during the Lenten season. Why now? Could it be that God has provided me an abundance of quiet for an important reason?

For the next two weeks, I would ask all of us to make a daily journey through the streets of Jerusalem to the hillside of Calvary.

I want to walk with Jesus this week and see him as he struggles to carry his cross.

I want to witness all that Jesus endured for my sake.

I want to see Jesus “high and lifted up” for my salvation.

I want to remember what happened so I can understand what matters.

I want to “turn my eyes upon Jesus and look full in his wonderful face.”

Turn your eyes upward

There is a lot that I do not know about the days ahead. But I know God knows, and that is enough.

Let’s join our praise with King David’s this week, saying, “Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable” (Psalm 145:3).

Let’s turn our eyes toward Calvary and focus on Jesus.

Then let’s turn our eyes to heaven and realize that Jesus granted every believer the opportunity to enter the presence of God one day. Thank you, Lord, for a season that calls us to let “the things of this earth grow strangely dim, in the light of his glory and grace.”

Why Winter?

The weather forecast reported a sixty-three-degree start to the day and a twenty-nine-degree ending, with lots of rain and wind to boot. Talk about a Texas MONDAY!

I pulled my underused coat from the closet and wondered why God created winter.

The forecast for Eden

Winter must be another of the consequences of living outside the Garden. Adam and Eve didn’t need clothing in Eden, so it must have been consistently warm. Come to think of it, they probably didn’t need shade either. They didn’t need shelter from the storms, and they never had to clean up after a tornado or hurricane.

Did trees lose their leaves in the Garden of Eden? Did the flowers ever die? Or, did God create the weather changes and climate challenges we experience today as yet another consequence of sin?

The Bible makes it clear that God created the earth and uses weather as a way to display his omnipotence.

What does the Bible say about weather?

The prophet Jeremiah said, “It is he who made the earth by his power, who established the world by his wisdom, and by his understanding stretched out the heavens. When he utters his voice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens, and he makes the mist rise from the ends of the earth. He makes lightning for the rain, and he brings forth the wind from his storehouses” (Jeremiah 10:12–13).

Jeremiah knew that God ruled the weather, but the Bible also teaches that people can influence God’s actions.

James wrote, “Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit” (James 5:17–18).

We know God has chosen to speak through weather events.

1 Samuel 12:18 says, “So Samuel called upon the Lord, and the Lord sent thunder and rain that day, and all the people greatly feared the Lord and Samuel.”

Isaiah said, “And the Lord will cause his majestic voice to be heard and the descending blow of his arm to be seen, in furious anger and a flame of devouring fire, with a cloudburst and storm and hailstones” (Isaiah 30:30).

The climate will always change

According to scientists, our choices have affected the climate. According to the Bible, they always have. There will always be consequences to our sinful choices, just like there were consequences to Adam and Eve’s.

One thing is certain: people will always be better off if we choose to honor and care about God and his creation.

The Bible makes it clear that God uses our weather as a consistent, miraculous reminder of his existence and involvement in our world. After the flood, God told Noah, “While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease” (Genesis 8:22).

Climate change will exist as long as the world does. But should we be praying, asking, and then working to honor God’s creation as best we can?

God reveals himself in our world

God has always used this world he created to reveal himself.

Romans 1:20 says, “For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made.”

That verse goes on to say that people are “without excuse” if they go through life, observing God’s creation yet never honoring the God who made it. This amazing world we live in is the revelation of our amazing God.

I think it is safe to say that the Lord would want us to preserve and protect his creation. Our planet is a revelation of God to all who dwell on it. I’ve tended to shrug off the “climate-change” politics, but what if we should be asking God how we can help?

Not caring is probably not our best witness.

Our best efforts won’t ensure the world’s existence forever

I do think we should do our best to honor God and care for his creation. At the same time, I’ve studied the Bible and know that our best efforts won’t change the inevitable.

Jesus spoke and the storm was calmed. Jesus spoke his final words on the cross and the earth quaked. And Jesus told his disciples, “See that no one leads you astray.Many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he!’ and they will lead many astray.And when you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed. This must take place, but the end is not yet.For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places; there will be famines. These are but the beginning of the birth pains” (Mark 13:5–8).

I believe Christians ought to honor God with our choices, including our choice to care for his creation. I believe that, if we honor our planet, we will have a better chance to speak about the reason we care. This week I will teach the passage from 1 Corinthians when the apostle Paul said, “For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them” (1 Corinthians 9:19).

We know that God holds the world in his hand and governs the wind and the rain. This world won’t end because of climate change. It will end when God chooses to send his Son back to “wrap things up.”

Until Jesus returns, Christians have a biblical mandate to make ourselves servants for the sake of those who are lost. Our number one priority should be to live in such a way that we can earn the right to “win more of them” to the Lord.

If honoring God’s creation helps others honor God, we have done well as God’s servants.

Why winter?

The arctic cold fronts will come to Texas. So will the hurricanes, tornadoes, and warm spring days. July 2020 will be hotter than we wish it would be. Our seasons will change. Our climate will change. Our world will change.

And every change on earth can serve as a reminder of a God who doesn’t.

His word is truth, his will is certain, and his ways are perfection. One day, Paul’s words to Corinth about the final change to our climate will become reality: “In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed” (1 Corinthians 15:52).

The world had a beginning, and it will have an end. Everything and everyone on earth will too.

Winter winds strip the trees of their dying leaves. Winter temperatures cause us to find a place to be warm. Winter freezes prepare the ground for all that will come in the spring. Why winter? Because that is how God set things up in this world after Eden.

Our weather and everything else is constantly changing, reminding us that nothing on earth is permanent. But, heaven is eternal and permanently Eden.

Let’s live on earth with a divine perspective and a holy purpose. Christians should live and submit our freedoms for the purpose of serving the lost, hoping to win as many as we can.

What are your goals for the colder days ahead?

The climate will change. Maybe we should too.

The Lancaster Lifestyle

The quiet life of the plain people

Previously, my only experience with the Amish lifestyle was through novels and movies. Then I made a trip to Lancaster County in Pennsylvania, and I spent some time among the Amish. I found their lifestyle fascinating and thought-provoking.

I’ve always loved—but have struggled to live—the passage in 1 Thessalonians 4:10–12 that says, “But we urge you, brothers, to do this more and more, and to aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we instructed you, so that you may walk properly before outsiders and be dependent on no one.”

I aspire to live that verse, but it requires effort and choice to find that kind of quiet in my Dallas life. Nevertheless, that’s the verse that kept coming to mind as I drove past the farms in Lancaster County and visited stores and other places intended to reflect the Amish way of life.

If there were some kind of apocalyptic occurrence in the world, I imagine the Amish in Lancaster County would be far better off than the rest of us. In fact, I wonder if a catastrophe would impact them much at all.

Their daily lives would look familiar, even now, to their ancestors. In contrast, my grandparents would be astonished to see everything that this computer I’m typing on is able to accomplish. For that matter, my mom is still astonished on occasion. Change seems to be a constant in our lives, but the Amish still use oxen to plow their fields and horses to pull their buggies.

The Amish have chosen to stay separate from the rest of the culture and take care of themselves, their families, and their community. They raise their children to depend on God and hopefully choose the Amish lifestyle for their futures. The times change, but they have chosen not to change with them—at least not too much. The Amish buggy I followed down the highway had turn signals!

Is the Amish lifestyle what the apostle Paul intended when he wrote 1 Thessalonians 4:10–12?

Why do the Amish choose to live a “plain” life?

I was surprised to learn that my theological roots are closely related to those of the Amish. The Amish and the Baptists both trace their beginnings to a group called the Anabaptists, who were persecuted during the Protestant Reformation because they did not believe in infant baptism. Those Christians were forced to flee from their homeland because many were being put to death for “defying” the traditional Catholic faith.

Eventually, the Amish and Mennonite people left Europe in the 1720s and 1730s and accepted William Penn’s offer of religious freedom. That is why they settled in the area that later became known as Pennsylvania. Many are still in that area today, on the same land their ancestors farmed.

I enjoyed my time in Lancaster County. We discovered a family restaurant that offered traditional Mennonite recipes. The food was wonderful, the pies were amazing, and the servers were quietly kind and seemed to enjoy serving. The walls of that restaurant were covered with Scripture. It felt like a privilege to eat there. Truthfully, I felt a little sad to pull away from that very simple, very plain, and very comfortable hotel room in Lancaster.

There is something to be said for the “plain” lifestyle, but is that how all of us should interpret the passage in 1 Thessalonians 4:10–12?

That is the thought that has given me pause since returning home. Paul said to live quietly; to mind our own affairs; to work with our hands; to walk properly before outsiders and be dependent on no one.

Those words seem to describe a lifestyle that looks more Amish than the way most of us have chosen to live.

Why did Paul speak those words to the Thessalonians?

Thessalonica was a busy seaport in Macedonia, and one of the largest, most important cities Paul visited. Paul taught in the synagogue there, doing his best to convince people that Jesus was their long-awaited Messiah.

Acts 17:1–10 describes Paul’s time in the city. Acts 17:5 says, “The Jews were jealous, and taking some wicked men of the rabble, they formed a mob, set the city in an uproar, and attacked the house of Jason, seeking to bring them out to the crowd.” Paul was forced to flee to Berea, but his message, after just three days of preaching, was received by many in that important city, and a significant Christian church was formed and tasked with reaching their culture.

Later, Paul wrote his letters to the church, trying to help those new Christians protect themselves from the same persecution he had faced. He complimented them on their faith and told them, among other things, to live quietly, separately, work hard, and try not to depend on others for their livelihoods. In context, Paul’s words were given to help those early Christians survive in an angry culture that didn’t like their message.

Paul’s life is his message as well

The Anabaptist people needed that same teaching to survive the persecution of their day so they came to Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. They chose to maintain that way of life to protect their faith, even after coming to a land that gave them permission to worship freely. In many ways, the Amish have lived as a persecuted people, even though they were free.

And that is a point to consider today. If Paul was teaching that a quiet life, lived separately from the world and not dependent on others, was the “Christian” lifestyle, then Paul didn’t choose to live as he taught. Neither did Jesus. Both Jesus and Paul lost their lives because they did not separate from the world; they preached to it.

In fact, that is the lifestyle most of our biblical heroes were called to lead.

How then should we live today?

Jesus prayed for his followers, saying, “My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one” (John 17:15 NIV).

Jesus knew that it would be difficult for Christians to live their faith around people who didn’t follow God’s plan for their lives. Jesus knew that human beings will always struggle to submit to God’s sovereignty because Satan, the evil one, will always work to separate people from God’s plan.

But, if Jesus prayed for our protection, shouldn’t we trust that God answered that prayer?

It was right for Paul to teach the Thessalonian church (and consequently the early Anabaptists) how to survive in a culture that was trying to take the lives of the faithful followers of God. It was also right for Paul to continue to live in the midst of his culture in order to fulfill his calling.

And that is the point for all of us today. I wish there were a strict set of rules each of us could follow to guarantee we were leading a godly lifestyle. We have God’s laws, and they are still truth, but God also gave us his Holy Spirit to guide each of us to the life and calling he wants for our lives.

What is your calling?

It’s important to remember that our calling will never break God’s laws, but the Holy Spirit will teach us how to fulfill our calling with the people around us.

I was impressed by what I saw in the Amish way of life, and I wish I had more time to live amongst them. At the same time, I’m called to live in Dallas and freely serve God as his Holy Spirit leads. My “quiet” life is better described by the quiet confidence and peace that accompanies a busy, suburban lifestyle and ministry.

Like Paul, we each have to run our own race. God’s Holy Spirit will teach us which lane is ours, how fast to run, and which direction to go. Those instructions will probably change daily, weekly, and yearly.

Galatians 5:25 says, “If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.” Walking with the Spirit is the plain truth, for plain people, who want to live the life God has called them to live.

There may be days ahead when God’s Spirit instructs us to live like Paul taught the church in Thessalonica and the early Anabaptists. For now, we are free to teach and preach the gospel message to a world that needs to hear it.

And if one day God were to call me to live more like the Amish people, I think I would enjoy that ministry as well!