I’m a law and order guy. I believe that if you intentionally break the law and you should suffer the consequences. Without the consequences we would soon have anarchy.

Edward Snowden, who exposed the government’s overreaching surveillance fiasco, has obviously broken the law and my normal reaction is to “Throw the book at him.” To expose America’s top secret information can be dangerous to national security. So I’m confused. Why am I thinking he should not be prosecuted and come home an America hero instead of a criminal? And why are so many Americans thinking the same thing?

Well maybe its because in this case we believe it would be more dangerous not to expose it. And  maybe It’s because we appreciate the fact that he had the courage to sacrifice not only a good paying job but the rest of his life to warn us that the government is taking dangerous control of our lives. Control it’s not entitled too. Or maybe it’s because we’re concerned about an unprecedented amount of “law breaking” by the very people we elected to uphold the law. Or maybe because we feel that under the guise of security we’re losing our right to privacy and personal freedom.  Or maybe because we believe we are witnessing an Orwellian takeover of America. We see it happening and we’re frustrated because the checks and balances we thought were supposed to prevent this sort of thing are failing us.

Congress holds the Attorney General in contempt of Congress. Big Deal. It doesn’t mean a thing. So a nerdy computer genius with access to the Big Brother machine, comes along and makes the decision to expose the growing government intrusion into our personal lives and even though he has broken the law, we tend to want to thank him for caring enough to warn us.

We are truly living in strange times.

Its hard to imagine what people are going through as a result of the massive Oklahoma Tornado. Having been raised in Dallas where Tornados were a regular seasonal event, I know a little about that fear and anxiety. An indescribable feeling. Its hard to imagine what its like to live in a living active community with friends and a home that represents security and comfort and in a few seconds for it all to be reduced to a heap of rubble. Its not like you have time to think about it or prepare for it. But what’s even harder to imagine is the loss of  a husband, a wife, a child, a relative or friend in that tragic moment.

And while it may be hard to imagine, there is something you can do. First, you can pray. Pray that God will bring swift healing to those who have suffered physical injuries.  People like the heroic teacher whose leg was impaled by the leg of the desk she and the children she was caring for were crowded around. Pray for emotional healing for those who have suffered loss and that God will heal the memories of the children rescued from the school. Pray for the first responders who have gathered to save lives and to care for the living. Must be exhausting physically and mentally. Pray for those responsible for providing for those have lost everything and have no place to go or immediate means to take care of their basic needs.

And then you can give. The humanitarian relief organizations are on the ground in Oklahoma and need your help to provide needed services. One such organization that we know and trust is Convoy of Hope. You can make a secure online contribution by going to www.convoyof hope.org. Or you can make a 10.00 donation on your celluar bill by texting Convoy to 50555.

One of the things we talk about in our book Significant Living: A Roadmap for the Rest of Your Life is mentoring.  As we get older we have an opportunity to use our experience, knowledge and maturity to make a difference in the lives of the next generation. But it’s more than just an opportunity, it’s a serious responsibility and you need to understand what mentoring is and the commitment it takes to be a real mentor. John C Crosby, an author and politician in the 30′s and 40′s said, “Mentoring is a brain to pick, an ear to listen, and a push in the right direction.” I like that, it pretty much sums it up.

Here are some things to know as you consider a mentoring ministry. (And it is a ministry.)

• Determine the commitment you can make and the amount of time you can devote to a mentoring responsibility.
• Choose your choice of a mentee carefully to be sure it’s a person who will be comfortable mentoring.
• Ask questions and establish what the person wants from you.
• Establish expectations early on so that you will both be on the same page.
• Make sure the person is willing to accept your counsel and is willing to be accountable.
• Don’t be offended if the person seeks counsel with someone else.
• Don’t hesitate to ask tough questions. It is usually the tough questions that will make the biggest difference.
• Build a relationship of mutual learning. There is something to learn from everyone we meet.

I think you can see that mentoring is a responsibility that requires a commitment of time and relationship and should not be taken lightly. But it is also an incredible opportunity for intergenerational ministry that can be offer fulfillment and meaning to your life and to the person you are mentoring.  So why wait. Get started.

I don’t think God is that impressed with what we Christians call success today, because much of it is based on a secular concept rather than a biblical one.

There’s a good example of this in the life of Moses. The Israelites were in the wilderness with no water and ready to stone Moses. So Moses asked God what he should do and God told him to speak to a certain rock at Mt. Sinai.  By doing so, water would pour forth.

But speaking in front of all those people was a frightening thought to Moses because he had a speech problem.  It was an impediment so bad that his brother Aaron spoke on his behalf.  However, Moses had witnessed incredible miracles with the shepherd’s staff God had given him. So much so, it seems he had become more confident in the gift (the staff) than the giver (God).

It’s possible God wanted Moses to trust Him with his weakness on this occasion, but the pressure was on Moses to produce water and rather than speak to the rock as God instructed, he struck it with the staff. Amazingly, water poured out and the people were ecstatic and Moses was once again the hometown hero.

God was not ecstatic. Moses was disobedient and no matter how successful he looked in the eyes of the people, he had failed in God’s eyes and God forbade him to enter into the Promised Land.

There are Christians today, including Christian leaders, who may look very successful in the eyes of people, but may not be successful in God’s eyes. It may be wrong motives, personal ambition, moral failure or any number of other spiritual issues.

God has a place for every one of us and true spiritual success is when we are obedient to His calling on our lives and when we are living in right relationship with Him. Our responsibility is obedience and what happens after that is God’s responsibility.

Ecclesiastes 12:13 sums it up.   “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter; Fear God and keep His commandments for this is the whole duty of man.”

Thanks for joining me and whatever you do, keep showing up.

We all want our lives to count for something.  But a lot of people, you may be among them, think it’s beyond their grasp -they don’t think they have enough to offer.   Don’t underestimate yourself. You do have something to offer and making a difference is easier than you think.  Let me give you a couple of examples that will get you thinking

I flunked speech in my freshmen year in high school, a combination of lack of confidence and a teacher who should have picked another profession.  But the next year I signed up for another speech course, this time taught by an incredible teacher who loved teaching and cared about students.   Jack Gilbert saw potential in me and took time to develop it.  I made an “A” in speech that year and was the MC for the school assemblies. It also led to dramatic arts and communications studies in college, as well as my public ministry.  Jack Gilbert’s simple act of caring helped set the course for my life.

The second example is an organization called CASA (Court Appointed Special advocates) of which I’m a board member.  CASA has 200 well-trained volunteers who represent 500 abused and neglected children in the court system. It’s not easy working in a complex, rigid court system with kids who are emotionally scarred, scared and angry.  But imagine the positive influence these volunteers can have in the lives of children who desperately need someone who genuinely cares, standing beside them.     A good percentage of the volunteers are retiree’s who want add meaning to their retirement years.

In both examples, making a difference began with a simple act of caring enough to reach out and touch a life.  And that’s something we all can do.  So why not find your place and jump right in.  You’ll be amazed at how meaningful your life can become.

Thanks for joining me and whatever you do, keep showing up.

Would you like to live an exciting spiritual life that makes you leap out of bed every morning instead of the one you may be living right now?

Well the key is in an experience Shirley and I had a few years ago. We went sailing with a friend in his beautiful hand-built 27-foot sailboat. As we got underway, I couldn’t help but compare my first sailboat, an old fifteen-foot day-sailor I named “O’leeki” – for obvious reasons.  Side by side in a race, my friend’s boat would be across the lake before I was up to speed.

However, there was a way I could win. If I got the wind and he didn’t, no matter how sleek his boat, I would be across the lake while he sat dead in the water.  The spiritual application is found in Zechariah 4:6. “Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ Says the Lord of hosts.

Christianity that is not powered by the Holy Spirit is “dead in the water.”  That’s why so many Christians live in defeat and wonder why. The apostle Paul said you have to walk in the spirit so that you don’t fulfill the lust of the flesh. You can’t get there in the natural. |

One of my hero’s is D.L. Moody.  He didn’t have a lot of formal education, but he achieved far more in his lifetime than other spiritual leaders of his day with impressive educational pedigrees. The key to his success, I think, is found in this quote. He said, “I was born of the flesh in 1837, I was born of the spirit in 1855. That which is born of the flesh may die. That which is born of the Spirit shall live forever.”

Here are a couple of important things I want you to remember: First, God can use anyone fully committed to Him and walking in the spirit. Second, an exciting and fulfilling Christian life is when you’re truly walking in the spirit rather than the flesh.

Thanks for joining me and whatever you do, keep showing up.

What do you do when the sun is hidden and the storms are passing through?

I’ve had a lot of those times in my life.  There have been times when it is so dark that it was hard to believe the sun was still there. I remember when I was diagnosed with colon cancer. It came out of nowhere. No symptoms, nothing, just in for a checkup with no clue that anything was wrong. I was stunned and at that moment was on the verge of emotional collapse.

I can tell you in that moment the sun was hidden and a storm was raging. I have to confess, my faith was weak and I needed assurance that God was still there and I could trust Him. That assurance came from my wife Shirley. We sat down together and she looked me in the eye and said, “The thing I have feared the most coming into our home is cancer. But now it is here, and it’s not that big of a deal. It’s not too big for God and we can still trust Him.”

It wasn’t just what she said. It was the look of confidence in her eyes. They weren’t just idle words to her. She meant it and it took hold with me. The storm was still raging and clouds were still there, but the sun was also there just above the clouds. And when the clouds passed over we would feel the warmth of the sun again.  The thing that was most important amidst the storm was that no matter what happened, in life or death, we could still trust God, because through Him we have been promised eternal life.

I don’t know of anything more important than knowing there is a divine power who knows you and loves you and is concerned about what happens to you. God is not just a universal God whose concern is limited to universal matters. He knows you personally, intimately and has a plan for your life.

I like how the Psalmist explains it in Psalm 34:17-18, “The Lord hears His people when they call to Him for help. He rescues them from all their troubles. The Lord is close to the brokenhearted; he rescues them whose spirits are crushed.” That is personal and it is an expression of personal concern.

The colon cancer was twenty-five years ago. Since then there have been other storms, but Shirley and I have come to understand that even in the worst of the storms, the sun is still shining and it will soon shine on us again.

I would like to hear about your experiences.  And whatever you do, keep showing up.

There is a legend about a rich gold mine, in the Superstition Mountains near Phoenix. It’s called the Lost Dutchman mine and was supposedly discovered around 1892, by ironically, a German prospector named Jacob Waltz. No one knows the location or even if the mine actually exists but that hasn’t stopped over 8,000 searchers with visions of a vast treasure of gold from heading to the mountains. But the Lost Dutchman Mine is still lost.

A definition of treasure is “something of great worth or value” or “something stored up.”

Treasure is important to all of us. It’s human nature to desire the security that wealth seems to afford.

For example, the retirement income we spend years accumulating is something of value or worth to us and could be considered “treasure”. But there are other kinds of treasure. When my daughter started dating, to her chagrin, I took the young man aside and explained to him I considered my daughter a “treasure” and that I held him personally responsible for her treatment during the date.

The challenge of treasure is our attitude toward it. Jesus tells us in Matthew 6 that our earthly investment is perishable, but our eternal investment is rock solid. The point He was making was that our spiritual lives are much more important than our temporal. It’s true, we don’t take it with us.

As a kid our family didn’t have much so today, having enough for the present and the future is important to me and I have to be careful where I put my trust. But I’ve come to realize my greatest treasure is my relationship with God and the promise of eternal life.

The balance is to understand that good Christian stewardship is living a moderate lifestyle with positive financial planning, but knowing that our ultimate security is in Jesus Christ.

Thanks for joining me and whatever you do, keep showing up.

A little over a year ago I went for what I thought was a routine medical checkup only to find out I had a 75 % blockage in the main artery in my heart and could have dropped dead at any time. I was stunned by the news because I had no symptoms and my blood pressure had always tended to be low and I had passed all my past tests with flying colors. A heart problem had been the least of my concerns.

With a painless Angioplasty, the placement of a stint, a day and a half in the hospital and a couple of days rest, I was back to normal activity. Coronary disease is incurable but with responsible lifestyle choices including a proper diet, regular exercise, stress management and medication I can expect to live a long, productive life.
There are a couple of reasons I’m sharing this with you. First, don’t be too macho to have regular checkups. Avoiding regular checkups is just plain dumb. Even if you are not feeling bad or having obvious symptoms, checkups are still very important. They can save your life.

The second reason I’m sharing this is because the experience helped me to understand, again, how fragile life is. There is not an insurance policy in existence that can assure you of another day of life. It’s important to take good care of yourself and plan to live a long time, but the rest is out of your control.

So here’s a question you really ought to think about.  What would you do differently if you knew you had one month to live? Would you ask forgiveness of someone you had offended or hurt? Would you forgive someone that had hurt or offended you? I would hope you would make sure you ask God’s forgiveness and accept the salvation He has provided you.

There is a tendency that when people know the end is near they to want to clear their conscience and get closer to God. That’s a good thing. Bitterness, unforgiveness and unresolved conflict are a sure path to misery. It is a death of its own. So don’t wait until you think you’re going to die to learn to live. Learn to experience the peace of God that passes understanding.

Thanks for joining me and I’d like to hear from you. So let me know what you think.

God can use uncomfortable situations to teach us lessons… even a situation involving a homeless alcoholic.

I met Cecil on an alcoholic rescue run one night with my pastor. Pastor had a heart for alcoholics so there were always two or three attending church. If they didn’t show up for a couple of weeks he went looking for them.

That night we were in one of the sleaziest neighborhoods in Dallas. That was my first trip with pastor and I just wanted to get out alive. It took three beer joints before a friendly bartender told us about a flophouse hotel where we could probably find Cecil.  The place was awful with the smell of urine so strong my nose burned. That didn’t slow pastor down at all and after checking out a few dingy rooms we found Cecil, naked and passed out on a bed with a dirty sheets. It was not a pretty sight. Pastor finally got him awake sat down beside him, talked and prayed with him before dressing him and taking him home to dry out.

During the next few months my wife Shirley and I made it a point to get to know Cecil. He was in his early 70′s, missing a couple front teeth and really pretty rough-cut. The years had not been good to him. But the more we got to know him the more we liked him and Sunday dinners with Cecil got to be special for the Rose family. He was like a grandfather figure to us. The change was remarkable.  After years of alcoholism, he stopped drinking and he thrived on the TLC he got from the church family and us. The new Cecil had love to give he never knew he had.  He laughed, talked, played with the kids and after all those years of pain he was finally living the good life.

Cecil’s dream was to have his own room at the local retirement center. It took a few months but we finally managed to make it happen.  A bunch of us were there to celebrate the day he moved in. It was a simple room but to Cecil it was a mansion. Sitting in his own rocking chair he declared it the happiest day of his life.  Two weeks later I got a call from the retirement center and was told that in the middle of the night Cecil had gone to be with the Lord, the Lord he had met just a few months before.

I learned some things through that experience. I learned what Jesus meant when he said, “whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.” I learned that my pastor was dead serious about ministry and it wasn’t limited to a pulpit. He had a heart for forgotten, discarded people and he was willing to go to some dark and ugly places to find them. Just like Jesus did.  My pastor made a big difference. Cecil taught me that people have worth no matter how far they have fallen. God loves them and He expects me to love them.

God may well put a Cecil in your life someday and when He does accept it. Perhaps it could be one of the best things that will ever happen for both of you.

Thanks for joining me and whatever you do keep showing up.