Max Lucado shares the following statistics from Dan Miller’s book 48 Days to the Work You Love:

• One-third of Americans say, “I hate my job.”
• Two-thirds of your fellow citizens labor in the wrong career.
• Others find employment success, but no satisfaction.
• Most suicides occur on Sunday nights.
• Most heart attacks occur on Monday mornings.

If these statistics are accurate, then clearly a lot of people are struggling with satisfaction at work. However, Lucado advises that before you go looking at changing careers, perhaps you should first try changing your attitude towards your job.

God calls us to glorify him in all our life – not just Sunday mornings at church. For most of us, that means we are called to glorify God during the week through our work. Whatever your job, you can glorify God by doing it right and giving him your best.

Intentionally offer your work back to God as a sacrifice of praise to him. If you are a plumber, then glorify God through your plumbing. If you are a student, then glorify God through your studies. If you are raising your children at home, then glorify God through your parenting. Martin Luther once said, “The cobbler praises God when he honestly makes a good pair of shoes.”

Max Lucado has some good thoughts on this subject (and of course some good stories) in his article, The Lord’s Career Advice. By the way, please keep Max Lucado and Oak Hills Church in San Antonio in your prayers as Max steps down as pastor due to health concerns. You can read Max’s letter to his church family about his decision here.

Please don’t wash my sneakers! This girl won $2,500 in the 32nd annual national Odor Eaters Rotten Sneaker Contest. Now she can afford to buy a new pair. The prize-winning sneakers will be enshrined in the Odor Eaters’ “Hall of Fumes” in Montpelier, VT.

Unidentified Flying Snowflakes. For over a century people have reported seeing giant snowflakes, some as large as frisbees. Scientists are interested in the stories and have begun collecting data. The largest snowflake ever reported was during a storm in January, 1887, when a Montana rancher claims he measured one 15 inches wide.

$1 million dollars only goes so far. More and more people are becoming millionaires, and yet some still worry about whether they will have enough money for the future. These people should pay a visit to the Global Rich List.

How rich are you compared to the rest of population earth? The Global Rich List will help you find out. Just enter your annual income, click, and you will be ranked accordingly. The list works with U.S dollars, Canadian dollars, pounds, Euros, or yen. It is also fun to enter in different income amounts to see how you would rank if you earned, for example, $1,000,000 a year or just $1,000.

The list does not take into account such things as cost of living or a host of other economic factors, but it is helpful in gaining a better perspective of the distribution of wealth throughout the world. It should also encourage us to be more generous with the money that God has entrusted into our care.

Of course, this list only ranks your riches according to monetary terms. As Christians, we know that true riches are found elsewhere. “The brother in humble circumstances ought to take pride in his high position. But the one who is rich should take pride in his low position, because he will pass away like a wild flower.” (James 1:9-10)

Note: If you are interested in helping people around the world who have less resources than you do, here are some great ministries you can support.

• Compassion International
• Samaritan’s Purse
• World Vision

The Nativity Story was released on DVD today in the stores. If you did not see this movie back in December, let me recommend it to you as a biblically faithful, historically accurate and artistically sensitive portrayal of the events surrounding the birth of Christ. Seeing this movie in the theater was one of the highlights of this past year’s Christmas for our family.

I was surprised and disappointed that the movie did not do very well at the box office. Christianity Today has an article here discussing the timing of the film and the rushed schedule that did not allow for adequate publicity or proper promotion.

Regardless of box office performance, this is a beautifully made film that deserves to be seen by many more people now that it has come out on DVD. We will certainly be picking up a copy and making it a part of our Christmas celebration each year.

I was never a big DC Talk fan, but as a youth pastor in the 1990′s I got to hear plenty of their music. One song the youth played all the time was “Luv is a Verb,” off of the Free at Last CD.

This song came back to haunt me last week as I prepared the message for Sunday morning from 1 Corinthians 13:4-7. This is the famous passage in the Bible where Paul gives an extended description of love.

Although many of the descriptive words read as adjectives in our English Bibles, they are all verbs in the original Greek. The love Paul is talking about is not primarily something you feel but something you do. We may not always be able to control our feelings, but we can control our actions. Love is something that you choose to do or not to do. Luv is a verb.

DC Talk rap:
Back in the day there was a man
Who stepped out of Heaven and he walked the land
He delivered to the people an eternal choice
With a heart full of luv and the truth in His voice
Gave up His life so that we may live
How much more luv could the Son of God give?
Here is the example that we oughtta be matchin’
Cause luv is a word that requires some action.

Hey, tell me haven’t ya heard?
Luv, is a serious word
Hey, I think it’s time ya learned
I don’t care what they say
I don’t care care what ya heard
The word luv, luv is a verb

(Excerpt from “Luv is a Verb” by DC Talk)

Have your prayers ever gone unanswered? Do you ever wonder if God is listening? If you have ever prayed, then you have faced the problem of unanswered prayer at one time or another.

We often hear that God answers all our prayers. Sometime he answers “yes,” sometimes “no,” and other times “later.” There is a lot of truth to that, but when we talk about unanswered prayer, we are usually talking about the prayers that God answers “no” or “later.” Why does God answer this way? Are there good reasons that we can understand?

Scot McKnight over at Jesus Creed has been posting on a new book called God on Mute: Engaging the Silence of Unanswered Prayer, by Pete Greig. I have not read the book yet, but I have already benefited from Scot’s summary of the main points. Here are sixteen reasons Greig suggests that God sometimes does not answer prayer:

1. Common sense: Am I asking God to do something stupid, meaningless, or illogical?
2. Contradiction: Are my prayers likely to be conflicting with those of someone else?
3. Laws of nature: Are my prayers potentially detrimental to the natural order or to the lives of others?
4. Life is tough: Am I expecting God to spare me from stuff that’s just common human experience because of the Fall?
5. Doctrine: Does my prayer reflect God’s character and His promises in the Bible? Might it be out of line with His will for my life?
6. Second best: Although my desire in prayer is for something good, is it possible that God has something even better in store for me?
7. Motive: Are my prayers essentially just selfish?
8. Relationship: Is there an opportunity here for going deeper in my relationship with God?
9. Free will: Am I expecting God to override someone’s free will?
10. Influence: Am I trying to exercise ungodly power over a person’s life in prayer?
11. Satanic opposition: Is my prayer in line with God’s will but experiencing specific demonic resistance?
12. Faith: Do I really believe that God can do this? Am I out of my league?
13. Perseverance: Do I want it enough to keep praying?
14. Sin: Honesty time: Is there some secret sin you need to confess?
15. Justice: Am I actively seeking to express God’s love for the poor?
16. None of the first 15: Am I trying to find answers where I need instead to trust?

I think this is an excellent list worthy of study and reflection in relation to our prayers. What do you think?

Note: You can access Scot’s full comments on the book here:

• Unanswered Prayers 1
• Unanswered Prayers 2
• Unanswered Prayers 3

Have you ever sung the song, “Seek Ye First,” by Karen Lafferty?

Seek ye first the kingdom of God
And His righteousness,
And all these things shall be added unto you,
Allelu, alleluia.
Lyrics by Karen Lafferty, © 1972 Maranatha! Music.

This article by Kim Jackson at Today’s Christian fills you in on the history behind the song. Find out how God used one woman’s overdue rent and a Bible study on Matthew 6 to bring about one of the most well known worship songs of the past three decades.

Rolling in the dough. People in New York are paying chef Nino Selimaj $1,000 for a single 12-inch lobster tail and caviar pizza. Granted, each pizza costs Selimaj $720 to make, but that is still a pretty good profit margin.

No brains, no sweat. A new study links regular exercise with improved memory. So if you can’t remember the last time you exercised, maybe that’s why.

Do you ever struggle with regularly reading God’s word? I am currently reading John Piper’s book, When I Don’t Desire God, and found the following section helpful.

“A thousand interesting things compete for our attention to the Word of God. I confess that after fifty years of loving and reading and memorizing Scripture, I can be lured away from appointed times in the Word by something as insignificant as a new computer device. The illusory pleasure of newness can temporarily trump the far superior benefits of keeping my appointment with the Word of God.

“This is evidence in me of what Paul calls indwelling sin (Rom. 7:17,20,23). It is part of the remaining corruption lingering after the death of the old self (Rom. 6:6). I am not proud of it. It grieves me. At times it frightens me . . . I know this sinful inclination must be fought to the death . . .

“One of the ways we can fight against the inclinations that lure us from the Word of God to computers or television or any other substitute pleasure is to remind ourselves often of the immeasurable and superior benefits of the Word of God in our lives. We must put the evidence before us that reading, pondering, memorizing, and studying the Bible will yield more joy in this life and the next than all the things that lure us from it.” (John Piper, When I Don’t Desire God, pp. 96-97)

I love God’s Word and read it (most) every day, but I also can find myself distracted by the most inconsequential things. I need to remind myself often of the “immeasurable and superior benefits” of God’s Word in my life. How do you make God’s Word a priority in your life?

Yesterday’s message was the second in The Love Chapter series from 1 Corinthians 13. The message was called, The Character of Love, taken from verses 4-7.

1 Corinthians 13:4-7 – 4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. (NIV)

The main idea of the message was, that if God will measure our lives according to the standard of love, then we had better understand what love truly is. Here is a brief recap of the message:

1) First, Paul describes love positively – he tells us what love is. (verse 4a)
      – Love is patient (bearing with each other’s faults).
      – Love is kind (actively seeking the good of another).

2) Then, Paul describes love negatively – he tells us what love is not. (verses 4b-5)
      – Love does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
      – Love is not rude, it is not self-seeking.
      – Love is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.

3) Next, Paul describes love with a contrasting statement. (verse 6)
      – Love does not delight in evil, but rather
      – Love rejoices with the truth.

4) Finally, Paul tells us four things that love always does (verse 7)
      – Love always protects.
      – Love always trusts.
      – Love always hopes.
      – Love always perseveres.

How do you compare with this list? Most of us fall far short. The qualities Paul has described here are really the fruit of the Holy Spirit in your life. It is only as you yield to God and his Spirit asking him to change you that he will make you into a more loving person.

Jesus is the only one who truly fulfills this beautiful picture of love. Rather than get discouraged over your own shortcomings, cast yourself upon Christ who is perfect love. Meditate on the beauty of his character. And let God do his work in your life, transforming you ever more into the likeness of Christ by the power of his Spirit. That is the secret to growing in love.

Note: To read the complete message, go to the Sermons tab at the top of the blog.

Thank God it (was) Friday.

God tells us to be thankful in all circumstances, so as I was shoveling snow this morning, I was thinking of reasons to be thankful. I am thankful that I am in good health. I am thankful for the snow that refreshes the earth. I am thankful that I have a home to shovel. And I am thankful that the storm came on Friday rather than Saturday night. We would have had to cancel church for sure.

My second Sunday as pastor at Agawam Church of the Bible we had to cancel services because of snow. I like to tell people that I preached my first sermon at my new church, and the next week no one came back, not even my wife!

Well, that’s it. I am done blogging for the week. Have a nice weekend. I will see you bright and early Monday morning with some new Sunday Morning SoundBytes. Until then, “Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” (1 Thessalonians 5:18)

We have a family of chipmunks who live in the bush just outside our back window. We enjoy watching these cute little critters as they scamper around the yard and run along the top of the fence. It is especially fun to watch them play tag with the squirrels underneath the bird feeder. The squirrels don’t have a chance. The chipmunks can dart from here to there so fast you don’t even see them move. It is almost as if they teleport from one location to the other.

Yesterday the back yard was a flurry of activity from our chipmunk friends. All morning long they were dashing back and forth to the woods bringing back supplies. You see, we had a major snow storm coming in last night, and they were getting prepared.

Of course, the question is, how did they know the storm was coming? I only knew because of the weather station. In the meantime, while I checked hourly weather reports on TV, the chipmunks earnestly gathered their supplies.

These little chipmunks are a testimony to God’s great glory and wisdom, as are all of God’s works in creation. God is a good and loving Creator who has made all things well. I especially love Psalm 104 which speaks of God’s intimate love and care for his creation. Let me leave you with a few verses from this encouraging psalm this morning:

Psalm 104:24-28

24 How many are your works, O LORD!
In wisdom you made them all;
the earth is full of your creatures.
25 There is the sea, vast and spacious,
teeming with creatures beyond number —
living things both large and small.
26 There the ships go to and fro,
and the leviathan, which you formed to frolic there.

27 These all look to you
to give them their food at the proper time.
28 When you give it to them,
they gather it up;
when you open your hand,
they are satisfied with good things. (NIV)