sad reality

Read this fact the other day and it literally made me want to throw up:

The cost of the halftime commercials during the Super Bowl could feed the world's entire refugee population...TWICE.

Pathetic and sad. It must break God's heart to see the way His creation has chosen to live.

During our Young Life weekend retreat at Windy Gap the speaker played a short clip of a Tom Brady interview. This guy has reached the pinnacle of success. He is a 3-time Super Bowl champion quarterback of the New England Patriots and already a sports legend. He has won the Super Bowl MVP twice and been named to the to the Pro Bowl 5 times. He has dated actresses and supermodels and makes millions of dollars a year. According to our world's standards...Tom Brady has it all. That is why America was fascinated and intrigued by his statements during an interview with Steve Kroft on 60 minutes:

"Why do I have three Super Bowl rings and still think there's something great out there for me? I mean, maybe a lot of people would say, 'Hey man, this is what it is.' I reached my goal, my dream, my life. Me, I think,'God, it's got to be more than this.' I mean this isn't, this can't be what it's all cracked up to be."

When Kroft said him, "What's the answer?" Brady responded, "I wish I knew. I wish I knew. I love playing football and I love being quarterback for this team. But at the same time, I think there are a lot of other parts about me that I'm trying to find."

Most people would KILL to be Tom Brady. Very few people have experienced all the happiness that the pinnacle of success can offer. They think if I just had his life then I would be happy because what more could you possibly want?
Tom Brady has discovered such happiness is fleeting.
Pascal puts it well: "All men seek happiness. This is without exception. Whatever different means they employ, they all tend to this end. The cause of some going to war, and of others avoiding it, is the same desire in both, attended with different views. The will never takes the least step but to this object. This is the motive of every action of every man, even of those who hang themselves."

I wish I could tell Tom Brady the good news...that there is MORE! This desire for something greater is inevitable because "God has put eternity into man's heart" (Ecclesiastes 3:11). Tom Brady you were made to know God.

Don't believe the lies that success brings happiness. I have to fight that battle everyday because I know a lot of times I fall into that trap. Until we know Jesus our hearts will never be satisfied...no matter how many Super Bowls you win. As Augustine said, "You (God) made us for yourself, and our hearts find no peace til they find rest in You."

This prayer is from the Valley of Vision- a book of puritan prayers:

O God of grace,
Thou hast imputed my sin to my substitute, and hast imputed His righteousness to my soul, clothing me with a bridegroom’s robe, decking me with jewels of holiness.
But in my Christian walk I am still in rags; my best prayers are stained with sin; my penitential tears are so much impurity; my confessions of wrong are so many aggravations of sin; my receiving the Spirit is tinctured with selfishness.
I need to repent of my repentance; I need my tears to be washed; I have no robe to bring to cover my sins, no loom to weave my own righteousness; I am always standing clothed in filthy garments, and by grace am always receiving change of raiment, for Thou dost always justify the ungodly.
I am always going into the far country, and always returning home as a prodigal, always saying, Father, forgive me, and Thou art always bringing forth the best robe.
Every morning let me wear it, every evening return in it, go out to the day’s work in it, be married in it, be wound in death in it, stand before the great white throne in it, enter heaven in it shining as the sun.
Grant me never to lose sight of the exceeding sinfulness of sin, the exceeding righteousness of salvation, the exceeding glory of Christ, the exceeding beauty of holiness, the exceeding wonder of grace.

Francis Chan on Taking Risks

I love this video from Fancis Chan about how we seek safety instead of taking risks.


This message is so true. Often times I find myself pursuing security instead of the ultimate Protector. A big prayer in my life is that I would stop hugging the beam and get out there! That I would not let the fear of failure paralyze me. I heard someone say recently that we should dream and live life in such a way that is destined to fail without divine intervention. That kind of faith isn't afraid of failure.

"If God is for us, who can be against us?" Romans 8:28