Daily Verse

Porcupines or Eagles?

/ pastorpete51 / 2 Comments 
The ear that listens to life-giving reproof will dwell among the wise. Proverbs 15:31 ESV

Have you ever watched little birds being shoved out of the nest when they are ready to go out on their own? The chicks like being comfy, just hanging around waiting for mom to bring them food. But comfort is not their mother’s goal. She knows that for them to survive, they will need to learn to fly. Just as that mother eagle pushes her little chicks from the nest, God sometimes uses criticism that others are leveling at us to nudge us out of our comfort zone.

In the 2021 Tokyo Olympics there were many who criticized Simone Biles for withdrawing from some of her events. What they did not realize was that the fear of not living up to other people’s expectations had put so much pressure on Simone’s mind, that she couldn’t focus. Her fear while performing endangered not only her winning any medal, but even her physical safety. Later Simone went on to win more medals and ended her career as the most decorated female American gymnast on the planet! Now, most of us will never be Olympians, but we like Simone, we need to learn that the secret of success is to accept the fact that we are not perfect. In fact, it is perfectly normal to be imperfect! For me, usually, my first reaction to correction or criticism is to bristle like a porcupine, but I have learned that sometimes our greatest detractors can also be the ones who motivate us to fly. We need to remind ourselves that God created us to be eagles and not porcupines. So instead of bristling our quills like a porcupine under attack, we need to just start flapping our wings. Remember that flying even a few feet off the ground is something no porcupine will ever do! When we learn to just relax and listen to correction, then God can begin teaching us how to fly. Then one day when we least expect it, He will help us to spread our wings and fly fearlessly farther and higher than we ever imagined!

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TI not AI in the coming Storm

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According to a recent CNBC report, Meta, the parent company of Facebook, will invest 60-65 billion dollars in AI research in 2025. Add in Alphabet, Nvidia, Microsoft and Amazon and the scope of what lies ahead in Artificial Intelligence is unimaginable. Everything from our banking to our how our refrigerator works will be affected. Our children’s education, what we see on television, listen to on the radio or receive in the mail will be driven by forces far greater than any Madison Avenue marketing firm could have imagined even a decade ago. So, unless we plan on entering a monastery or joining the Amish community, we Christians need to determine now rather than later how we will respond.

First, let’s all, take a deep breath and remember that the beginning of wisdom, (True Intelligence) is the fear of the Lord. Our God, who with one word spoke light into existence, filled the universe with stars and created our each of our bodies with 30 trillion cells, is a lot smarter than any Artificial Intelligence anyone can come up with! Living for Jesus means trusting in Him, and bringing our problems, fears, and questions to Him every day, including every challenge the world throws our way. We don’t have to figure everything out. God already knows the future and He has promised an eternal kingdom to those who place their trust in Him.

Secondly, God is not surprised. In the last chapter of Daniel, God tells Daniel that in days to come, people will run faster and faster and that knowledge will increase. (Sound familiar?) But then God tells him to go about his business, assures him of His peace, reminds Daniel that as he takes a stand, he will be blessed. (Daniel 12:13 KJV). I am confident that this promise was reassuring to the aging prophet Daniel, but it is also great advice for us today. It is easy to lose our head, worrying about what might happen tomorrow, but we don’t need to worry about tomorrow today. We just need to focus on what God has given us for now. God knows what is coming and already has a plan in place. So, let’s trust Him as we do what He has given us today, and trust that He is smarter than anything the world will ever come up with!

Last, invest time, energy, and resources in people, not things. Jesus was far less impressed by Herod’s spectacular temple complex than He was by the heart a poor widow who gave two pennies into its treasury. Jesus allowed Himself to be arrested, stripped of His clothing, and nailed to a cross to purchase what mattered most to Him: the salvation of you and me! Let’s get our focus off of the latest gadgets being marketed to us and ask God how to follow the True Intelligence of Jesus Christ by serving hurting people in His name. Compared to the power of AI, the ways of God may sound foolish, but the wisdom of the world is foolishness with God and His glory can shine brightest through cracked clay jars filled with the light of Jesus Christ.

No Emergencies With Jesus

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And as they sailed he fell asleep. And a windstorm came down on the lake, and they were filling with water and were in danger. And they went and woke him, saying, “Master, Master, we are perishing!” And he awoke and rebuked the wind and the raging waves, and they ceased, and there was a calm. He said to them, “Where is your faith?” And they were afraid, and they marveled, saying to one another, “Who then is this, that he commands even winds and water, and they obey him?” Luke 8:23-25 ESV

In today’s verse, Jesus tells the disciples to get into the boat and head across the lake. After doing what He asked, they probably started out confidently, but about halfway across the water, a violent storm kicked up and suddenly it looked like they were about to die. Now, I have never almost drowned at sea, but while we lived on a busy city street, it was not unusual for us to place, 911 calls, after hearing, the familiar screeching of brakes and crunch of metal outside our home. Once my wife even jumped in to help direct traffic after one particularly bad accident. And though we knew what to expect, it was always a shock to me as, I was frantically explaining about the latest crisis, when the operator would cut in and simply ask, “Where is your emergency?” I was dying tell talk about, broken windshields or stunned drivers sitting on the curb, but what they wanted to know first was our location. Ironically, since our fire station was only about 5 blocks away, we could hear the sirens the moment we told them our address. As I calmed down, the operator would then ask, “Are there any injuries?” at which point a second siren would begin to wail and then last, she would ask my name, address, and phone number.

No matter where we live, all of us will experience a crisis and find ourselves in storms. The Bible never explains how to avoid every emergency, but it does tell us that God stands ready to help us in them. If it feels as if Jesus has fallen asleep, don’t give up. The most important thing in every storm is that Jesus is in our boat! Remember the 911 operator’s order. First tell Jesus where your emergency is. Though He already knows, He usually waits until we cry out to Him, “Hey Jesus wake up!” before He answers. Secondly, tell Him about your problem. “We are all about to drown!” Is pretty specific. Don’t be vague, tell Him every detail. Last of all, give Him Your name. For our names to be written down in His book, we need to first give Him the name of Master in our hearts, because only He commands our wind and waves. With Jesus there are no emergencies, and when He is the Captain of our Salvation, our boat will never sink!

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