Purple Sunset

This is a story I had written back in October of 2006. Like many of my stories they never seem to be complete. I have pulled this one out of the file in hopes of completing it today.

Micah 6
8 But he's already made it plain how to live, what to do, what God is looking for in men and women.It's quite simple: Do what is fair and just to your neighbor, be compassionate and loyal in your love, And don't take yourself too seriously— take God seriously.

Hope you all had a great weekend. Lisa and I had the most wonderful time ever. So many stories to tell. I started to write one last night but it got to be too long. So I went for the shorter one. Lisa read this verse as we were riding down to Lake Waccamaw for a Boys and Girls Home reunion. We never made the reunion but sat at the end of the lake and watched a purple sunset. I sat their and was reminded of how many sunsets I have been blessed to witness the past two years, this was a purple sunset, not sure if you guys have ever seen one of these, the horizon is a dark gray and then just fades into a purple color all the way across the sky.

I was reminded of many other things also, some sad and some happy. More happy than sad I must say. So what am I trying to say? Sometimes we need to sit back and take what really matters seriously. This is one of the long list of kingdom principles that I have been revealed to me this year. This one may be one of the most simple but most difficult to do. The question for us is, what are we taking too serious? What we think are the serious things make life confusing and complex, the simple things should be kept simple.

That was the end of the part one, now several months later I realize that this story needs a bit more content and explaining. What are our passions in life? What do we really love? What do we take seriously? There is so much to love in our world today. When does it become wrong to love something? That to me is a great question.

I am sitting here thinking about all of the things I love, do I love them more than God? My immediate response is "Oh no! Ask yourself that question and be very honest, it’s just you and God.

If you are like me in anyway there are truly some things in life "at times" you loved more. I can hear your voices now "not me, I love God more than anything in the world, nothing gets in the way of my relationship with Him. I’m not saying that you don’t love God. I am saying that we tend to put things before God and pretend that we don’t. When we do this we have loved "that" more than Him. We take things we love and are so passionate about and make them so complex and so serious they end up in front of God. This can be anything.

My challenge in ending this story is, how can we stay passionate about God? I think communication would be the starting point. For any relationship to grow there needs to be communication. We talk a great deal about communication but the sad reality is we all lack in this area. I have friends that I have not talked with in ten years and yet I still call them my close friends, mostly because there was a time that we communicated on a level that help us both get through some difficult problems. I go months without talking to some of my closest friends. Is this good communication? Of course not. So relate that to God? Have you communicated with God, have you sat down and not wondered off into never land while talking to Him. I know just this morning I was asking God one thing and then next thing I know I was on another topic. He was quick to ask "what happen to what we were just talking about? I just smiled and laughed and said "I guess I’m jumping around this morning.

There is so much going on in our lives, if we don’t get serious about loving God, I mean really serious then where will we all be next year, next week, tomorrow? This week, each day, sit with God for a few minutes by yourself and ask Him "how is my relationship with you? What am I putting before you? Theses questions ask to the world will uncover one answer "nothing. Ask to God, will uncover a loving and merciful God who wants to have a relationship with you.

George Beasley

Basic Faith + 3

2 Peter 1
5-9So don't lose a minute in building on what you've been given, complementing your basic faith with good character, spiritual understanding, alert discipline, passionate patience, reverent wonder, warm friendliness, and generous love, each dimension fitting into and developing the others. With these qualities active and growing in your lives, no grass will grow under your feet, no day will pass without its reward as you mature in your experience of our Master Jesus. Without these qualities you can't see what's right before you, oblivious that your old sinful life has been wiped off the books.

As I read this text today I am asking myself what I am complementing my basic faith with? I love what Peter says ", each dimension fitting into and developing the others. I also like the fact that he says " don't lose a minute in building on what you've been given. What has God given you? There is a personal pronoun that hinders me from complementing my basic faith. It’s "I.

I live my life in this "I" realm, we all do from time to time. I got to do this, I got to go there, I have to meet here, I am tired, I am, I am, I am......When skiing, I get to the end of the course, drop down for a brief word on what "I" just did right or wrong. I am always responsive and say "yea, I know what you’re talking about. These are all qualities of a great ski coach, good character, spiritual understanding, alert discipline, passionate patience, reverent wonder, warm friendliness, and generous love. The three people that have spent the most time coaching me share some or all of these qualities. They all have "reverent wonder", each time I ski they are like "wow, he is still alive after that. Oh yea, it gets that good! I can feel the generous love and the warm friendliness, the passionate patience at the start. They all have good character and really care about the outcome of my skiing. They in some sick way want to develop me into a better skier. It hurts to grow sometimes. One thing they all have in common, they are giving of themselves to develop me.

That’s skiing, now how about life? I can say with great gladness that these three coaches and many more of you have exhibited some if not all of these qualities and have given freely of your time to develop me as a person. You have given so much to see me mature as a Christian and now I am seeing what is right before me.
What I like the most is what Peter says next "With these qualities active and growing in your lives, no grass will grow under your feet, no day will pass without its reward as you mature in your experience of our Master Jesus.

That says it all, doesn’t it. These qualities just don’t arrive, they are active and growing always. The question for me and for you, what qualities do we need to grow in? Are we developing others?

George Beasley

Remember When

Numbers 28
25 "Conclude the seventh day in holy worship; don't do any regular work on that day.

Do you remember when? Do you remember when you went to church on Sunday, lifted your hands to the Lord, gave Him praise, prayed, got delivered from things that you could no longer handle? Do you remember when you were excited about going to worship? Do you remember when you couldn’t wait to hear the preacher bring the word?

So, what’s changed? Why is Sunday becoming more like Monday? There are some that will fight you on this, these I have found to be the ones shopping and eating out on this day they call holy. Not being judgmental here, just telling you what I have lived.

I do also realize that we live under grace and not the law, but is there a day we should set aside just for God? I have heard people say "I give God one day a week" or "I go to church Sunday and Wednesdays ain’t that enough?

Here’s what I’m saying, live it! Live everyday as it is for God! Wake up thinking and praying to God. Go to sleep thinking and praying. Is that too much?

I like thinking vs 25 should say "conclude everyday in holy worship", but I didn’t write it. Is there a time each day you speak to God, the one who holds your breath in His hands.

Kyle told me one time, "ski like it’s the last time you will ever ski. I thought about that and said later "worship like it’s the last time, pray like it’s the last words you will ever be able to speak, give to God like it’s the last time you will be able to give anything. How would it be to stand before God and say "I came into your presents giving my last dime, I came into your presents speaking to you, I came into your presents worshiping, I came into your Holy presents loving you and showing your love to someone who really needed to be loved.

Set aside some time for worship today. Live it!

George Beasley

Finger Prints

John 1
14The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood. We saw the glory with our own eyes, the one-of-a-kind glory, like Father, like Son, Generous inside and out, true from start to finish.
I was at the shop yesterday working on this tiny connector that plugged into a electronic piece that controls the air bags in the car. These wires were very hard to see but I had a suspicion that they were a problem. So, I started to uncover them so I could get a better view. They were so small I could hardly see them so I grabbed my magnifying glass and began to look and not to my surprise they need to be replaced.
While I was looking at these wires I started to look at my fingers. I sat there and looked at all ten, closely looking at each of my finger prints. I was thinking how unique they were and how God has made each one of us "one-of-a-kind. I said at that moment, what a great story, we are so unique but is that all I have for the story Lord? That we are just "one-of-a-kind, unique in the way you made us, not one of us the same? His answer was prompt, oh no, think on this some and you will see more than just a finger print, look closer at the prints and tell me, what do you see?
So, I looked and started to notice each finger print is different, each one has some twist and turns, some go in circles some go up and turn back and some just seem to have no pattern at all. Of course by now I had seen what the Lord was showing me. On one finger the lines go upward and then almost do a 180 turn. I thought of God’s salvation, how He turned me from a life of eternal hell. Another finger, the print seems to go in a circle. This I thought of how our lives are sometimes, just going round and round. Another finger, the print goes one way then darts back in another direction, then breaks and starts again. This I thought of as learning things God wants to teach us or has taught us. The breaks in life and the heart breaks in life. As with life, you can’t see some of the bumps in the road or unforseen circumstances but I am convinced if we would just take a minute and take a really close look we could avoid a great deal of our own struggles. That’s the reason for the magnifying glass. God wants us to look closer at Him, really get close and see what He is doing and has done.
Now don’t read into this more than it is. I am not suggesting starting a new business of "finger reading. I am just comparing the uniqueness of our fingers with the uniqueness of how God has made each one of us and our lives. The story is in the fingers but the big story is in John 1:14 "We saw the glory with our own eyes, the one-of-a-kind glory, like Father, like Son, Generous inside and out, true from start to finish. Our fingers will turn back to dust real soon, but our soul will live forever. What a challenge to live from within and not our fingers.
George Beasley