Made for More

Over the years I have happened across lines in songs that have just really pumped me up. When that happens, it isn't like it takes me hearing the song ten or fifteen times before it strikes a chord, instead, the first time I hear the words it is like someone just gave me a shot of pure adrenaline and I can't hardly contain myself. Well, it happened again a week or so ago and I wanted to share my takeaways from the song lyrics and also share a link to the song so you can join me in worship for the gift that we have received. 

 

I was actually driving up the road on a return trip from a visit with my granddaughters when a song I hadn't heard before came across the airwaves. As I listened to the lyrics and eventual chorus, my energy levels received a boost, my fingers starting tapping the steering wheel and before I knew what was happening I was singing out loud praising God for all that He has done in my life and for all that He still has in store for me to do! Hallelujah, I get giddy just thinking about it! Now you may listen to the same song and you may really like it, but it may not do for you what it did for me. That's okay too, but I believe if you put some thought into what God is capable of doing in you and through you, then it might just bring a smile across your face as well. 

 

 In particular, this excerpt from the song “Made For More”, by Josh Baldwin is what pumped my spirit and encouraged my soul:

 

'Cause I wasn't made to be tending a grave
I was called by name
Born and raised back to life again
I was made for more
So why would I make a bed in my shame
When a fountain of grace is running my way
I know I am Yours
And I was made for more

 

Why would we allow our past mistakes, our pent-up frustrations, or even our current circumstances dictate to us how we live our lives? Why would we allow shame to take up residence in our hearts and minds and hinder us from fulfilling God's purpose for this life He has given us to live? Well guess what? I'm not. I'm not going to tend a hole in the ground when the God of all creation has a job for me to do. A job that He designated distinctly for me at the creation of time. Think about that for a minute, the God who created the moon, sun, stars, sky, earth, water, trees, plants, animals, and everything else that exists, created a plan and a purpose for Chuck Carter's life. And God did the same thing for you, and you, and you, and everyone else on this third rock from the sun! 

 

If you grasp the magnitude of that and you don't get a little pumped, then you still aren't getting it in my opinion. Maybe you don't believe that God has a purpose for your life because you have failed Him so many times and you are failing Him right now. Not a disqualifier. Check out the lives of David, or Paul, unlikely heroes from the Bible, flawed and failed, yet at the end of the day, MADE FOR MORE! Could it be that you don't believe you have a skill that can be of use to God? Moses, charged with leading the Hebrew people out of Egypt, tried to convince God that he wasn't the man for the job due to a speech impediment and even more importantly the murder of an Egyptian task master, but God had a different plan, MADE FOR MORE! And guess what? You were MADE FOR MORE too!

 

As Baldwin's song so eloquently puts it, you weren't made to be tending your grave, going through the motions of life and then you die. No God has a plan for you to fulfill, you choose how that plan will be carried out, but regardless His ultimate plan will be fulfilled. My prayer is that you seek His will for the life you are living. Seek God and ask Him to open the windows of your soul and allow you to better understand what your purpose is. The life you have been living is groundwork for the job God has for you. Remember, God doesn't make mistakes, He made you for more!

"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). 

 

Coach Carter

 

 

 

 

In You, Through You, and For You

  Assembly required. How many of us have read those two words on a box before we purchased a Christmas present and thought I can do this, no problem. Yet, when we sat down to put that new dollhouse or bike together at midnight Christmas Eve we fling the directions to the side and jump head first into assembling the massive conglomeration of H3 bolts and A11 cross support beams? How has that worked out for you over the years? For those of you that haven't experienced the joy of this milestone step in parenthood, just hold on, your turn will come soon enough! What I have learned through my own personal experiences is that putting the parts together to finally have a toy to play with or a bike to ride takes time. Coupled with that knowledge it is also safe to say that it is necessary to follow the instructions provided to avoid the end product being wobbly or dysfunctional. Way too often I would wind up with a pile of hardware and a couple of pieces sitting there when I thought I was finished, little did I know those last couple of parts and those missing nuts and bolts were the very pieces that made the end product function properly. In today's Flat Tire Ministry Thought, I'm going to be discussing how our relationship with God is strikingly similar to this idea of following the instructions we have been given through God's Word. I believe it is safe to say, "Some assembly required".

 

I titled our conversation today "In You, Through You, and For You" because I believe those are the steps (instructions) we must put in place as we build a relationship with God. The salvation experience is just the beginning of our journey, we could label that the purchase of our gift. Asking God to forgive us of our sins and to make a home in our hearts gives us the base foundation, yet the work that comes after our initial acceptance of God as our Savior is where the three aforementioned steps are necessary in our goal of forming a deep relationship with our Lord and Savior. 

 

In you, the first step is starts during the salvation experience. We ask God to come into our heart, mind, body, and soul. For God to come into our heart something has to be removed to make room for God. This is where you must experience a life shift towards building the foundation of your relationship with the God of all creation. Reading His Holy Bible, listening to uplifting music and teachings, and developing a quiet time where you can talk to God and hear back from Him through His Holy Spirit is where something changes "in you". What is the timeline on this step of "building" our relationship with God? That is not an easy question to answer. Each person's timetable is going to be different, but it is paramount to keep in mind that God doesn't necessarily work "through” us until He is working "in" us. "For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases Him." Philippians 2:13. 

 

When we have built a home for God inside our heart, mind, and soul then that is the time that God can really begin working "through you". When God speaks to us it isn't necessarily in a loud, commanding voice, just ask Elijah (I Kings 19:11-13). We can much better serve God when we understand God. That allows us to follow His gentle nudges to share our testimony with a colleague at work or to the person you just happened to be sitting beside on the subway ride home from work. God can work through you and He will, but we need to understand our job before we go to work right? "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them." Ephesians 2:10.

 

The third step in God's instruction manual is God working "for you". This is where we get the instructions and toss them to the side because we want God to work for us right now when we need a miracle to happen in our life or the life of someone we care about. Regardless of where we are on the spectrum of our relationship with God or even if we have established a relationship with God, when calamity strikes we reach out and ask God to intervene. In the Gospel of Mark, we are told the story of a blind man who called out from a crowd for healing to which Jesus responded, "Then Jesus said to him, “Go your way; your faith has made you well.” And immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus on the road." Mark 10:52. There are numerous stories of God's healing power being on display through the life of His Son Jesus while He was living among us and it isn't hard to find someone that can tell you of a miracle that God has done in their own life or the life of someone they know and love. That is God working "for you", but it is critically important to understand that God working "for you" doesn’t mean we will automatically have every prayer we pray answered exactly the way we envision the outcome to be? I'm sorry, but that isn't exactly how it works.

 

God working "for you" means that whatever the outcome is, we come to a place of understanding that God has a plan and a purpose for everything that happens in us and through us, and He has a plan that will work “for” us. Not necessarily the exact way that we envision the outcome, but when we have steps 1 & 2 in place first, God working "for you" takes on a completely different interpretation. It is only after God is working in us and through us that Him working for us takes on a deeper complex understanding of God's will for our life and those we are connected to. We submit in faith to God’s will understanding that His ways are bigger than we could ever understand, yet we trust that God’s plan is working for us the exact way God’s plan wants it to be. 

 

My prayer for you today is that you will allow God to work in you to build a relationship based on love, trust, and faith. From there, may God work through you to impact the lives of those that you live with, work with, and spend time with each day. Then finally, may God work for you to see the difference you can make in this world for God's glory and not our own selfish wants and desires. May God bless you and keep you! 

Coach Carter

 

The Mission Field

 When you think of the term missionary what comes to mind? For me, my knowledge and background illicit the image of a person traveling to far away third world countries, sacrificing the boundless comforts of our great nation to serve less fortunate peoples and to share the love of Christ who died a sinless death so that anyone and everyone could be saved by the grace of our God. I feel missionaries who travel and serve are a vital component in the Great Commission which Jesus charged His disciples, which includes us, to "... go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Matthew 28:19-20. Jesus directs us to "go" and make disciples, I would suggest that when Jesus said "go", not only was he charging us to travel to countries all over the world, but when Jesus commanded us to "go and make disciples", He was also talking about us going out each and every day wherever we are planted and to live out the good news of salvation. 

 

In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus repeatedly clarifies that His intention is for us to be laborers for Christ each and every day. “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.  Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.” (Matthew 9:37-38). Who are God's workers? Is it only those who travel to Ecuador or Ethiopia? No, those who travel to foreign lands are obviously a part of God's commission to "make disciples of all nations", yet I would suggest that you and I have the same fields to harvest right where you are today. Jesus directed us to make disciples of all nations, did He not want the United States of America to be home to disciples for His Kingdom from Key West, Florida to Seattle, Washington and all points in between? 

 

We are all missionaries, some travel to a distant land and serve there, some for weeks, others months, and still others make the sacrificial decision to make that foreign land their home. Thank you to those who serve abroad, may God bless your ministries and may your harvest be forevermore bountiful! But the vast majority of us will never break the confines of this North American continent. Today, I would like to suggest that when Jesus said "go", His intent was to go each and every day, where ever you live, whatever you do, as laborers in the fields of where God has placed us today. 

 

So, God has commanded us all to basically be missionaries in the "fields" where we live, but what does that look like? As I envision missionaries in foreign lands I see them living on less, sacrificing more, and struggling to make progress as they struggle against the natural elements and also against tribal or communal belief systems. Our scenario at home may appear to be different on the exterior, yet we go out each day and the mission fields at home are just as bountiful for harvesting, we just need to be prepared to be a worker in the fields each day. The living testimony of a follower of Christ is the best tool in missionary work possible, so don't feel like you have to be a called evangelist or minister to be in the fields harvesting for Christ, you're walk with Christ is the best harvesting tool available. 

 

This week I challenge you to allow God to work through you as you navigate your day. How you handle adversity on the job, how you react and respond to your spouse in a challenging situation, or how you interact with those you come in contact with at the store, in your school, or at your work station are all places where your responses will either benefit the harvest or it can diminish your opportunity to impact. Just know this, you can tell everyone you are a child of God, but the words you say, the thoughts you convey, and the walk you walk each day are where the harvest is impacted the most. In the world of mission work, it isn't the talk you talk where you live and work, but instead it is more about the walk you walk wherever your day takes you! The fields are plentiful, the workers are few, but you have the opportunity to reap a bountiful harvest for God today! Sow and reap! 
"Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up." Galatians 6:9.

Coach Carter

Mirror, Mirror

 

I would imagine the majority of folks reading today's Flat Tire Thought could finish out the title’s quote from the Disney classic Snow White. "Mirror, mirror on the wall, who's the fairest of them all?" The wicked queen glared into the magical mirror each day seeking an assurance that she was the most beautiful lady in all the land. She depended on that mirror to provide her with a false sense of security about who she was and how she was perceived by all that saw her. We don't have a "magical mirror" per say, yet King Solomon did provide us with a thought to be mindful of regarding our reflection. In Proverbs 27:19 Solomon wrote "As water reflects the face, so one’s life reflects the heart." A still, pool of water can provide a reflection of your face in the water much like a mirror, and for Solomon that same type of reflection is offered by looking at a person's life to see where their heart lies. Today I pose the question, what does your heart reflect based on your life and the priorities you have set?

 

As I was putting my thoughts together for today's message, the Aesop's Fable about the dog with a bone who saw his reflection in a pool of water kept coming to mind, so I'm going with it. Just as the wicked queen called on her magical mirror to calm insecurities about herself, the greedy dog in the fable saw a dog with a bone in the pool of water and he wanted more than he already had. Both stories speak to the dilemma we find our society trapped in today. The drive to obtain more in life is one that can taint the true purpose of what we were actually called to do with the life God gave us to live. When we place all of our attention on ourselves we lose perspective of all that God has equipped us with to do for others. Hence Solomon's warning that the life we live out will be a direct reflection of where our heart is in relationship to God's purpose. 

 

What do you see when you look in a mirror? As we leave the house in the morning one of the last things we do is look in a mirror to see if everything is in the right place. Hair combed and styled, face clear of breakfast crumbs, or possibly a quick glance to assure the buttons are aligned and the necktie is straight. What if that same mirror could give us a reflection of what our priorities for the day were going to be? Would our reflection reflect mercy and grace as it has been shown to us? Would we see a person sacrificing for the sake of others, or would our image reflect our own personal agenda and the greed associated with that type of lifestyle? 

 

As Solomon reminded us, the life we live will reflect our heart. Once, Jesus was questioned by a young lawyer about how he could gain eternal life. In a nutshell Jesus told him that if he must love the Lord God almighty with all his mind, body, soul, and heart and to love his neighbor as himself. (Luke 10:25-37). The lawyer replied with the question, who is my neighbor to which Jesus provided him the parable of the Good Samaritan. At the end of that dialogue Jesus asked the lawyer who was the neighbor to the man who fell victim to the robbers in the parable, to which the lawyer obviously chose the man who had had compassion on the victim and helped him in his time of need. In other words, the man whose heart caused him to put the needs of another in front of his own. When the Samaritan looked in the mirror he saw the needs of someone other than his own image. 

 

That is the type of image I want to see when I look in the mirror. Does my reflection always reflect the image of a giver and a servant? No, I am human, we are all human, and thus we will all fall short. But, we have been shown grace and mercy that we did not earn or deserve which gives us hope for tomorrow. That same grace and mercy God offers each of us is the same mercy and grace that we can shower down on others for God's kingdom. My prayer is that when I look in the mirror today, I don't see a self-centered image, but instead I want my life's reflection to be one that chases after the heart of God. May we serve more than we are served, may we give more than we receive, and may we forgive more than we have been forgiven! When we look in the mirror, may we see the heart of God alive in us. 

 

Coach Carter

Drive-Thru Prayers

 

The first drive-thru option for two of the arguably biggest fast food restaurant chains in America, McDonald's and Burger King, began in 1975. That trend has grown exponentially over the years to the point that I'm not sure a "fast food” restaurant would consider opening a new location without including a drive thru option. The popularity of drive thru is so common that many chain restaurants actually have two lanes for drive thru customers. The actual dining areas continue to decrease in size and seating capacity as more and more consumers resort to grabbing their lunch on the go or pick up dinner in a bag and deliver it to the family at home. Obviously, this has moved far beyond the definition of a trend, drive-thru pick up is more of a way of life for a vast majority of diners. Unfortunately, what has become an accepted way of life in the world of food, does not "fare" so well when it comes to our relationship with God.

 

Although we don't have a drive-thru prayer request line to God, way too often we get caught up in the fast-food mentality of how we want our prayers to be shared and responded to as we call out to God for a miracle amidst our adversities and afflictions. Staying with our fast-food drive-thru motif, when we feel those hunger pangs twitching in our bellies, we pull up to the little microphone, place our order, pay at the next window, and then magically our food appears ready to eradicate our suffering stomach. In that same manner, when we face adverse situations in life or when an illness or injury impacts the life of someone we love, is our expectation that we will pull up and place an order for a fast-paced, instant answered prayer that exactly fits what we believe the outcome should be? As you may have experienced yourself, answered prayers do not always work out in the same fashion as our drive-thru food orders are filled. 

 

Before we go any further I believe it is important that we establish the three ways that God answers our prayers. God may hear your prayers and intervene with a resounding "YES" and the miracle is established. On the other hand, the response may be an emphatic "No", because our prayers are not always in line with God's plans. And still a third response may be, "Not Right Now". This one is a little harder to embrace as human beings who are accustomed to driving up and getting our instant delivery handed to us minutes after placing our request. In each of these instances, knowing God, having a relationship with the Omnipotent God of all creation is required to be content with any of the three aforementioned responses. 

 

The Apostle Paul instructs us to " ... not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. Philippians 4:6. Noteworthy, Paul doesn't say that just because we make a request to God through prayer it will be answered with our outcome in mind. More so, the next verse assures us that "... the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:7. We make our requests known and the peace of God is provided because through our relationship with God that is built over time meeting with, listening to, and learning from Him and His Word. We are at peace knowing that God's plan is bigger than anything we could ever see with our limited mind's eye. The outcome is desired, but the peace of understanding that God's will is beyond our comprehension is only possible when that relationship is established. Psalm 46:10 tells us, "Be still, and know that I am God", knowing God allows us to rest in the outcome regardless of whether the answer is yes, no, or not right now. 

 

Regardless of how you pray, prayers are in no way a drive-thru opportunity. Receiving a "yes" to our prayers creates a thankful heart for the answered prayer. When the answer is "no" or "not right now", we may tend to turn to another "drive-thru" option in an attempt to get the answers we want. My prayer for you today is that you follow the advice of our brother in Christ Paul as he directed the Church in Thessalonica to "Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." I Thessalonians 5:16-18. Allow God to work His perfect plan in your life and the lives of those you love and care for each day. Build your relationship to the point of it becoming a partnership, and the peace that passes understanding will guard your heart and mind! (Phil. 4:7).

Coach Carter