My Test Drive…

Did not look like this…

Last night Dawn and I became the owners of a Dodge Grand Caravan. The faithful Trailblazer was getting up in years and we needed a little more room to run AMOK (or at least haul all the AMOKArts supplies from place to place). I really like it so far and my prayer is it will see a lot of work helping us to spread the Gospel and build up the Body of Christ. (If you can help in that mission, contact me at amokarts@aol.com)

When I test drove my van, I didn’t drive it like my favorite NASCAR driver, Jeff Gordon did in the video (for which I am sure my salesman Jose is very grateful), but I’m still pretty happy with it.

I posted this video partly because it’s funny and partly because it gave me a thought. I don’t know if this was a real prank or if the salesman was in on the joke, but let’s say it was real. There are thousands, maybe even tens or hundreds of thousands of people who would pay good money to have Jeff Gordon drive them around like he does in this video. They would laugh and want him to go faster and crazier (frankly, I’m one of them, if I had the money.) Had this salesman known who was driving him, he would have been having the time of his life, instead he was terrified and I think that’s the point. How we experience the wild and crazy rides in our life depends on our confidence in the one behind the wheel.

Who’s behind your wheel? I know someone who can handle your life even better than Jeff handled that sweet Camaro. His name is Jesus. Put Him in control of your life and hold on.

Guest Post: Dawn Weiss on Fear

Yesterday I was out speaking and had a fantastic experience which you will no doubt hear about in the days ahead, but today I want to give public praise for a wonderful wife who is really amazingly gifted. When I am away from my church, she often takes the pulpit. Right now we are working through a series based on the Bible stories behind Max Lucado’s book Cast of Characters: Lost and Found. This week’s chapter was on Ananias and Saul, the part where God calls Ananias to go to Saul (who would later become known as the Apostle Paul). At this point in history, Ananias was a Christ follower and Saul was the premiere persecutor of the church. God commanded to Ananias to do something that looked very dangerous. Dawn made her message about fear, the things fear keeps us from and the value of obeying God even if we have to do it afraid. I really loved this section of the message and thought it might be highly beneficial to this tribe of creatives.

“What does fear do to us?

1. Fear can make problems bigger than they really are.  I believe we have all fallen into this trap.  Something happens that makes us scared. We over-analyze the situation.  We think of all the different scenario’s that “could happen” and before we know it, the situation seems overwhelming and we are paralyzed with fear.
2. Fear prevents us from enjoying the blessings we have.  When we live in fear we are not at peace.  We focus all our energy on this thing that has us in fear and we lose our joy.
3. Fear can motivate us to disobey God.  Certain fears often prompt us to do things which are displeasing to God.  Fear of failing may prompt us to cheat on a test.  Fear of the truth being found out may prompt us to lie about what we have done.  Fear of rejection can lead people to give in to improper sexual advances.  Fear of persecution has led some christians to denounce their faith in God.

What are you afraid of?  Are there any areas of your life that are being stifled because of fear?  Satan is always going to bring fear against us at varying times.  It is one of his major weapons.

On Friday night I turned on the TV and the show Hoarders was happened to be on the channel the tv had been set to.  There was an older gentleman who was riding on a scooter around his property that looked like a junk yard.  Rusty bicycles, sewing machines, broken fences–just about anything you can imagine was piled all over the property.  The city had given him notice to clean up the property which was why Hoarder’s tv show was there. The psychologist spoke with the man asking him why he had accumulated so many things. He replied that he had planned repair the items and open a shop which was an old repair shop on the property. Suddenly he broke down crying.  She ask him what was wrong.  He confided that cleaning up the property made him fear that he would never get out of the wheelchair and that he would need to give up his dream of having a shop that rebuilds old items. The fear of facing his new reality was keeping him paralyzed.  Every day he would look at what he had hoped to accomplish and realize it wasn’t going to happen.  But instead of moving forward and moving on to something new that he could do, he got stuck in the fear and depression.

1 John 4:18 says

There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

We can resolve our fears first by focusing on God’s  immeasurable love for us.  His love will quiet our fears and give us confidence.”

Is there anything fear is keeping you from right now? What would you be able to accomplish if you could overcome those fears. Fear will keep you stuck in what might have been. Ask God to help you with your fears and to trust Him instead.

 

IllustrationFriday.com Challenge: Suspense II

This week’s challenge spurred me on to a second image. What is suspense? It’s fear of the unknown, isn’t it? We’re waiting for something to jump out from behind the next rock. You know most of the things we worry about never actually happen. The suspense is created in our own minds. What if we suspended suspense? What if we just deal with the things that are in front of us and cast our anxieties on the God who loves us and has our backs.

After all He asked us to do that in His Word when he told us to cast our cares on Him because He cares for us. (1 Peter 5:7)

Jesus also told us in Matthew 6:25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life[b]?
28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Suspend suspense and trust God instead. He won’t let you down.