PEACE IN THE MIDST OF THE STORM

    I was reading some scripture today about “fear” and had realized one big thing that has changed with my way of reacting to hardship. The scripture I was reading was in I John 4:18-19, where it says; “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. We love because he first loved us.”

 I have posted previously about walking through some pretty severe financial trauma 13 plus years ago when one of my businesses failed. With that failure two things happened: First, I found myself on the verge of bankruptcy and unemployment and was facing the loss of everything that I owned. Conversely though, I had the opportunity to see God's provision for me on multiple occasions. In those hard times where I couldn't financially support myself or my family—I saw God’s daily provision. Through being in a place of complete dependence, I had the opportunity to see God’s hand at work is some pretty significant ways. I shared one story of God’s miraculous provision in receiving a Christmas present (a bike) for my then 10 year old son, Izzy. What I didn't mention however, was the fact that although there had been multiple times during that period where God provided for me and my family in miraculous ways, I still would go into a panic every time I faced the prospect of suffering.

   Something as simple as the threat from a creditor or a bounced check could quickly send my “peace” flying out the window. Although I consistently saw God’s faithfulness, I was always waiting for the day when He would abandoned me. I miss interpreted hardship as either a sign of God’s lack of concern for me, or as the punishment levied by a rigid, demanding parent. Over that time of approximately 8 years, God worked hard to disprove my presuppositions. He provided for me daily which allowed us to stay in our large home (even though I still don’t know how we avoided foreclosure?) He provided a car for me, allowed my young children to continue to attend their private Christian school for a few more years. I even went back to college during that time and finished up my Bachelor’s degree (as my G.I.Bill benefits allowed me to make money while in college). Although I saw all these cool ways God was showing me His involvement and concern for me. Yet, I still had to be dragged through that process of “learning to depend on God”, while kicking and screaming all of the way! One difference I see now with my reactions is that the fear I always used to feel is pretty much gone. Although my circumstances at present are pretty similar to what they were 13 years ago (with some additional family trauma thrown in), I am experiencing more peace than I ever did before. 

   Somewhere along this process of walking all this stuff out, something had gotten “rewired” in my heart. Over the last 16 months I feel like I’m finally beginning to have peace in the midst of the storms of life. I think the biggest difference is that I finally am beginning to understand God’s heart towards me. As it said in the scripture I had been reading today; “The one who fears is not made perfect in love”. As we begin to fathom the depth of our heavenly Father’s love for us—fear starts to fade into the distance. Also, as we allow God to show us His provision in the midst of suffering, (instead of trying to avoid hardship) we start to learn to trust in God.

   In 1 Samuel there is a story that I absolutely love. In this story there was a “giant” Philistine warrior named Goliath that had challenged anyone from the Armies of Israel to face him alone in a battle to the death. By written account, this “giant” was a guy that struck fear in the hearts of the soldiers of Israel. Imagine a steroid abusing (WWE) professional wrestler only MUCH bigger with lots of armor and some intimidating weaponry --and this is what I assume that Goliath looked like. The Israelite's were terrified both of this guy and the armies of the Philistines that he came from. No one in Israel wanted to face this giant, until one day a young teenager named David heard the giant’s taunts and was indignant. You see, David wasn't even a soldier (in fact he was a simple shepherd), yet he had seen God’s faithfulness in the past and he had no fear of this giant warrior. David had seen God protect him from both a lion and a bear while tending his flocks, and knew God was with him. It wasn't that he was oblivious to how intimidating Goliath was. David was simply aware of how much BIGGER AND MORE POWERFUL God was. David went to the king of Israel volunteering to face this enemy of his people. He told his bemused king, “Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God. The LORD who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine." Saul said to David, "Go, and the LORD be with you." (1 Sam 17:36-37) David, full of faith, went on to slay Goliath. When the on looking Philistine Army saw David behead Goliath they ran away in fear. I love that story! Just like David, when we look for God’s hand in our past hardships--it’s easier to trust Him with our current sufferings. Just a few weeks ago, one of my facebook friends (Mike Day) went in for surgery to remove a fairly large brain tumor. Mike was facing a pretty severe surgery with a lot of substantial risks involved. It would be natural to be afraid of all of the possible ramifications that his doctors were preparing him for. In the weeks prior to the surgery, Mike had been having seizures and had lost almost all use of his left arm. It was amazing however, that when I went in to pray with him before his surgery, he had a sincere peace about the surgery. He was so peaceful that I almost asked HIM to pray for ME that day. I’m sure that Mike’s peace was also birthed through seeing God faithfully walk him through multiple hardships in the past. I’m so thankful at this point in my life that God has allowed me to learn to trust him in the hard times instead of allowing me to escape from suffering. I’m also grateful that I serve a God that hears our prayers and cares for us as his dearly beloved children.

Psalm 28:6-7 “Praise be to the Lord, for he has heard my cry for mercy. The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and he helps me. My heart leaps for joy, and with my song I praise him.”

PERFECT GOD GIVES PERFECT GIFTS

God is good! I had to share a story that happened to me recently. I had gone to Nordstrom Rack to look for a pair of cheap blue jeans. For those of you unfamiliar with Nordstrom’s Rack—it is the liquidation store for Nordstrom’s (which is a store that sells really nice clothing). I had a very limited budget for jeans and I was hoping that they had something within my limited price range. While at the store I noticed a really sharp looking black suit, which was my exact size, on the clearance rack. Although it was $500.00, (definitely WAY over my current financial limitations) I still tried it on to see how it looked. The suit looked awesome! I felt like a GQ model wearing this thing. While admiring this suit in a mirror; I noticed a red tag on the sleeve that read 80% off. "Wow!" I thought, I could get this thing for $100.00 plus $35.00 tailoring. I've never owned a really nice suit before. At my business I normally dress extremely casual. I went ahead and decided to get the suit. I had the pants measured and pinned up for tailoring and took the ticket to the front counter to pay my anticipated $135 plus bill. When I got to the counter the lady scanned the tag and said, “Oh no, this isn't right?” I knew it, 80% off had to be a 'miss-mark'? Has to be too good to be true? She then went on to say that there was an extra 10% discount on this suit (90% off). Additionally she told me that my $35.00 tailoring was "free" since I had a Nordstrom card. How cool!! This $500.00 suit custom tailored and I spent $49.00 for it. I just picked it back up from tailoring the other day. Don’t know exactly when I’ll wear this it but when I do I know I’ll be looking sharp in my $49.00 Nordstrom suit. God is good and I firmly believe that He even cares about the small insignificant things in our lives like the joy I felt being able to get a new suit for $49.00 

Matthew 7:7-11

"Keep on asking and it will be given you;  keep on seeking and you will find; ^[c]keep on knocking [reverently] and [the door] will be opened to you.

⁸ For everyone who keeps on asking receives; and he who keeps on seeking finds; and to him who keeps on knocking, [the door] will be opened.

⁹ Or what man is there of you, if his son asks him for a loaf of bread, will hand him a stone?

¹⁰ Or if he asks for a fish, will hand him a serpent?

¹¹ If you then, evil as you are, know how to give good and advantageous gifts to your children, how much more will your Father Who is in heaven [perfect as He is] give good and advantageous things to those who keep on asking Him!"

God’s Provision & The Bike

     God’s Provision & The Bike

    About 12 years ago my family and I found ourselves in tremendous financial trauma. The East side car audio store that I owned wound up failing (due to both internal theft and economic downturn) and we wound up almost 250k in debt. I had no reasonable ability to pay off our debts—but I was trying to hold onto my faith in God’s love and provision in the midst of tremendous adversity. It was during this time period that my son, Izzy, (at that time 9 years old) came to me with excitement after seeing a “dual suspension” mountain bike at Wal-Mart that he wanted. That year Izzy had grown 5 inches and the previous “kids” bike he had was so small for him that he was unable to even peddle without his knees hitting the handlebars. He wanted to go bike riding with his neighborhood friends but was unable to go out with them as his growing frame could no longer fit. "Dad," he exclaimed with excitement, “The bike I want is ONLY $150.00!” But I didn't have enough money that year to afford Christmas “cards” for my kids, let alone a $150.00 bicycle! I went into that Christmas season feeling like a complete failure. Like many men, at that time I derived my identity out of my job and my role as the provider for my family. That was a role that I felt I was failing miserably at. My son really wanted/needed that bike. It was a valid request that I was unable to provide for him. How could I purchase a bike when I was 60 days late on my mortgage and my family was facing the fear of foreclosure? I went into my room and poured my heart out to God that night. I vented, cried, yelled and told Him how I powerless I felt. I asked Him why all this was happening to me and where was He in the midst of all of this pain?

   A few weeks later I was sitting at my one remaining retail store hoping to sell something that season. I had shelves of dusty electronics that I wanted to sell but was severely lacking in customers. Late one afternoon a gentleman walked in and asked to speak to the owner of Soundsational. I told him I was the owner (expecting that he was either a salesman or a bill collector of some sort) and he introduced himself. He told me that his name was Larry B. and  that he had purchased an alarm from us a few months prior for his company van and loved the quality of the workmanship at my store. He then told me that he wanted to buy a larger audio/video/security system for his wife’s minivan as a Christmas present. Larry wanted to know if I would consider “bartering” for a stereo system? He told me that he was sales representative for Raleigh bicycles and wanted to know if I would ever consider trading car audio equipment for bikes? My mouth dropped when he told me this. I knew that this was not a coincidence! Larry probably didn't understand at the time why I started wiping tears from my eyes--but my realization of God's provision and love for me was overwhelming. I wound up doing a large audio system in Larry’s wife’s van that Christmas. That year I didn't get my son that $150.00 Wal-Mart bike, instead, I got Izzy a $650.00 Univega dual suspension bike. I got both my daughters new Raleigh bikes; I got a bike for me and my wife (at the time) as well. Even though I didn't have the ability or resources to take care of myself or my family—my Heavenly Father had MORE than enough resources to take care of all of us.

Matthew 7:9-11 “Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!”

Daneille Snowden [Blog Editor]: Brian and I are friends from our high school youth group and had recently reconnected on facebook. Also, I was there when he first accepted Christ in 1982 at a Keith Green concert. I have been following his Facebook posts on his journey back into intimacy with God and offered to share them on a blog.