Some men came carrying a paralyzed man on a mat and tried to take him into the house to lay him before Jesus. When they could not find a way to do this because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on his mat through the tiles into the middle of the crowd, right in front of Jesus. 

The desperate and imposing faith of friends. 

When Jesus saw their faith, he said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven.

‭‭Luke‬ ‭5‬:‭18‬-‭20‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Never underestimate the power of your circle. 

So sold out and convinced of the power of Jesus, it was the man’s friends willing to go to great lengths on his behalf, that resulted in his healing. 

Recently hospitalized myself, the most important outcome wasn’t so much my healing as the discovery of my own circle. 

My nearest and dearest friends and even Facebook people from around the globe held me up to Jesus in faith that I would emerge to walk out of that hospital whole and healed. 

Who in this life can you count on to carry your mat?

Being and staying connected with people who pray for you and are willing to lift you up is the very heart of Christian community. 

Get connected and stay connected. 

Be a reliable link in a circle you can count on, and one who can also count on you at desperate times to help carry their mat with a desperate and imposing faith. 

There will be terrible times in the last days.
People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— having a form of godliness but denying its power.
Have nothing to do with such people. -2Timothy3

Argue all you like that these are the last days. But frankly, last days have been with us for millennia since the first days and the signs are nothing new, just more evident and more laden with examples with the passage of time.

‘Having nothing to do with such people’ is a harder route to navigate as these people proliferate and insidiously take down what remaining truth and civility we have left.

The truth becomes increasingly difficult to discern but they are known by the fruit they produce.

Terrible times breed some terrible people, but terrible times also breed increasing discernment and resilience in those whose only end game is to follow Jesus.

They’re not online, in a tweet or a post.
Not at the store, don’t shop from home or at the mall at all.
Not on the road, in the car, on the bus or on a ride to anywhere.
Not at work, on the job, working hard or hard at work.
Not at a movie, out to eat, at a friend’s or having a drink.
They’re not around, nobody’s looking and no one’s missing their company.
They’re invisible.

They’ve not much time, but enough for you.
Rich in history with stories true.
They haven’t a lot but will give to you
A rich adventure before they’re through
If you seek them out with time to spend
and make them visible before their end.

They are almost buried treasures awaiting your discovery.

Enrich your life, make a new friend and a new story.

August 21st is National Senior Citizen’s Day.

Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was on him. 

It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah.

‭‭Luke‬ ‭2‬:‭25‬-‭26‬ ‭NIV‬‬

God keeps his promises. 

Having been led to the temple, Simeon finally and prophetically held that very messiah Jesus in his hands and said: 

Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you may now dismiss your servant in peace.

‭‭Luke‬ ‭2‬:‭29‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Promises made, promises kept is not a new thing or political slogan. 

Here we see a nobody who for years lived according to a faith that God is indeed who and what he said he is. 

And God came through. 

If you’ve lived with a godly vow for something, keep on the path toward it. Eventually God will keep his word. 

And the child grew and became strong; he was filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was on him.

‭‭Luke‬ ‭2‬:‭40‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Carol called.

It’s been several years since I heard from her.

At 85 now, she was once a client I helped through some really tough years.

Now in a wheelchair, she said she’d made it through the pandemic while most of her friends and neighbors had succumbed.

I explained I’ve been working from home for a couple years writing grants and doing donor relations work. She said she found my number in some papers and “just needed to hear your voice…someone’s voice today.”

She was always a tough, independent character who could take a joke and dish one better right back. But today her voice was different.

She has no one anymore. Friends and family are all gone and she doesn’t get out. I had found her a terrier pup way back but Trixie crossed the bridge several months ago.

Small talk wound down when in closing she said “It’s good to hear your voice.”

As we hung up I vowed to phone her for a chat on Friday mornings when I’m off work and while I’m still six feet above.

She’s just 20 years older than me and realizing that fact was deafening.

No one should have no one.

Long ago, I read a book that claimed Jesus was either a lunatic, a liar, or Lord of all.

In either capacity, he claimed a mission to save us from the deceiver of this world.

And since his entrance on the world stage, billions and billions have come to believe in him as option three, Lord of all.

If he had indeed been a lunatic or liar, his mission against our deception would have been a heinously more evil imposition of a more perverse deception in its place.

That’s not the Jesus understood by even lunatics or liars, leaving us only one divine option.

This is getting old.

Around this time every year for the last 14 years, I’ve come up with some new way to announce my gain of another year sober.

I don’t refer to being clean much anymore because unless you’re clean from the use of drugs, alcohol, or whatever addictive nouns once possessed you, you’re not sober. And to me, sobriety is the bigger gain.

Now while I thank God for the gift of another year and hope to continue the trend each year until I’m fresh out, celebrating birthdays becomes a lot more insignificant whether it’s a year spent on this earth or another spent back in your right mind.

There’s a nuance.

Clean generally refers to the physical aspect of recovery, meaning free from substance use. Sober often encompasses a broader scope, including the mental, emotional, and spiritual aspects of recovery.

It implies a deeper transformation, a new way of living and thinking not just in the absence of a substance but in the presence of life overall.

At Celebrate Recovery meetings, I’m asked what’s helped me most to accrue so many years off Meth and a half-dozen other substances who’d become my best friends for nearly 10 years.

The older I get, the more my story changes.

Getting clean and staying clean is entirely dependent on the discovery of something that gets you higher.

For me, it was my three kids and the sudden September 4th, 2011 acknowledgment of a once promising life going nowhere in accord with my faith and values.

It took seven felonies and handcuffs but the light came on and sobriety became the engine that promised to lead me on the track where I’d been a mere caboose for so long.

A burning desire to write came next, and I started my LifeMeansSoMuch.com website which is now the repository of over 500 stories about life, living, and my philosophical pursuit of true happiness and faith.

So, 14 years are just around the corner and I expect a bunch of folks will wish me congratulations, all of which has become a little more impotent with each passing September.

No offense, just the honest truth.

And that truth is healthy sobriety.

Awake in bed alone in the early morning hours and my mind wandered into enemy territory.

I realized a return to sleep was increasingly out of the question when I found myself compiling a mental list of life regrets.

Very poor use of time and an otherwise mentally healthy disposition I know, but I live on the edge occasionally and allowed it to continue a lot longer than I should have.

I wish I’d served in the Navy right out of high school when first offered that scholarship.

I wish I’d gone into insurance or real estate early on and I’d be rich and retired by now.

I wish I’d have beaten the hell out of Tony Franciosa when he called me out in 6th grade.

I’d like to have been able to grow more than 12 hairs on my chest by now…

And the list went on seemingly reciting itself in every category another 20 minutes or so.

I don’t recommend it.

Few other mental gymnastics can ruin a day you haven’t even begun.

The monster list had kept growing as if it had lied dormant under my skin much too long and I’d awoken to scratch exactly the spot it where it had been hiding.

It was way more easy than it should have been.

So I switched on the light, kissed my dog, and came to my senses.

I said a brief prayer and laughed at myself for the waste of time and brain cells.

I’m fine. No damage done.

The list of regrets dissipated more with each sip of coffee, but the lesson that remained is how readily we can live and die in those regrets, should-haves and unrealized wishes with such ease, but can’t just as easily turn the tables to be thankful and happy with where we’ve landed in life so far.

By then I’d advanced to my laptop typing into a new Word document every fortuitous blessing, turn of events that had once saved my life, and motive for living another day that typically accompanied my first step to the floor out of bed each morning.

I reminded myself I’m generally a radically positive guy, very slow to anger, and mentally astute as a better list began filling the second page of the document which became my second prayer of thanks this morning.