Author: Scott

There’s an incredible story that ESPN did about a young man from the Congo. I’m not going to share with you what happened in case you watch it. What I am going to say is that it is truly amazing and inspiring. ESPN did the story because the young man featured in it is a young wrestler from New York. Dunia is his name. If you haven’t seen it, I have a link about him below. Trust me. The six minutes is worth your time to watch. Without giving away what happens, let me just say it involves a horrific attack when he was younger. Actually, horrific does not describe it enough. Watch it and you’ll see what I mean. But the point of this devotion isn’t about the attack. As I was watching the story, three things stuck out to me: Perseverance. Love. Hearts of servants. 

This young man persevered. He persevered out of a situation that was terrible. After the attack, he was the only remaining survivor. Moved on in life to become a wrestler. A successful wrestler. Very inspiring to say the least. Also, his story is a great example of love. He now lives with a family in New York that fell in love with him immediately. Took him in and now care for him. Finally, the hearts I’m talking about are the ones that the doctors and the foundation have. His care was done at no cost. There would’ve been no way that he could’ve covered the expense. Serving others is a tremendous blessing. Having a heart to serve others is a blessing. Not only to those being served, but also to those doing the serving.

Everything here reminds me of Jesus. Reminds me of his life on earth as human. He left his throne to join us. To live a life as a man. He had to persevere through so many things. The obstacles in his path. The hate and anger he endured. Yet, he never wavered. Kept on pushing through. The love he showed those that he came across. Amazing stories. The Bible is full of stories showing examples of his life. And how he preached about loving others. Something that we should all learn from. And I can confidently say that we all agree he had a servant’s heart. Just think about a story in the Bible. Any story. I’m sure you can see the point here. Constantly serving others. Ultimately dying while he was doing what…serving others. Serving us. All three of these are ways that we should live. We should persevere through what the world puts in our way. Never wavering. Staying constant. We should love others. We are even commanded to love our enemies. Difficult to do. Believe me, I know. And we should serve others with open hearts. Putting them above us. Valuing them over ourselves. Once again, I know this can be hard. But we can do it. We can do all of these things with God in our lives. He will lead us, if we let him. Because he loves us. Always has. Always will.

Dunia link: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=lYBNve6V5F4

NCAA Division 1 Basketball Tournaments start this week. Both for the men and the women. I follow them in pretty closely. And I’ll watch some of the women play. Especially Kaitlyn Clark. These tournaments are known as the Road to the Final Four. This is also the time of the year that high school teams in Missouri are done playing for a state championship. The NBA season is beginning to move towards the playoffs as well. I love this time of year. To me, there’s not much better to watch than March Madness.

This time of year makes me think about Coach Armstrong. We would talk about the matchups. We would talk about the games we watched. The players that were making the biggest impact. I always looked forward to our conversations. As much as I enjoyed talking about basketball, he would always shift the conversations to life lessons. Definitely a skill that he was amazing at. One thing he used to say was, “You better have your ducks in a row.” Basically saying, you better be prepared. You never know what’s coming. Not only was he talking about basketball, he was talking about life. And he was spot on. If you fail to prepare, you prepare to fail. Preparation in basketball takes practice. Perfect practice. That’s how you get better. Hard practice leads to easy games. The same can be said about life.

We aren’t promised tomorrow. We aren’t promised the next few minutes. We never know what’s coming around the corner. Or when the end is going to be here. When we are born, we are promised one thing. There will be an end. So maybe we need to look at our lives. Maybe we need to take inventory and make sure that we are prepared. And the only way to be prepared for eternity is to have Jesus in our lives. That’s the only way to ensure that we are ready. The only way. There’s no question. There’s no alternate. The only way is through Jesus. If you don’t know Jesus, let’s talk. Let’s make sure you are prepared. Let’s make sure you are ready for when life here ends. If you do know Jesus, make sure that you are living life like he wants you to. Love him. Love others. Serve the world. Let’s do these things for others will also have eternity with Jesus waiting for them.

Here’s another tough one. And believe me as I’m writing this, I am pointing this at myself. It’s directed towards me. But I’m guessing others out there probably need to hear it too. It’s tough because it deals with our thoughts. Because our thoughts can consume us. They can control us. Our thoughts can have their way with us if we let them. Sometimes we find ourselves losing control of them. And that’s not good. Especially if they are toxic. Unhealthy. Any of you know what I’m talking about? I’m guessing that several of you, if not most of you, probably know exactly what I’m talking about. 

When I first became a believer in 1992, I was still struggling with who I was. I was struggling with who I was going to be. I wasn’t even 21 years old yet. And I was trying to figure out my path. What was it going to look like. I knew I needed to shed my old self. But I was struggling with that because that’s what I had been for so long. And let’s just say that my thoughts at that time in life were not very pure. As I’ve gotten older, I have learned to control them. There have been times that I could feel the wrong things coming into my head, and then I would intentionally steer my thoughts other directions. One thing Barbara said to me years ago resonated with me. And I hope she still believes it now. She told me that she appreciated way I would turn my head away from other women. She might not have known it, but that was intentional. I was intentionally turning my attention to my beautiful wife. That way I would keep my thoughts on wanting her. And only her.

You see, our thoughts have so much control over us that sometimes they can lead to action. My example earlier is just a small part of what I’m trying to say. We live in a world that tries to control what we believe. What we think. Telling us that this is ok, that is ok, this is fine, that is fine, etc. Look at this. Watch that. Listen to this. Do that. So many things coming at us from so many different directions. We must learn to control what we think, and let that help us control what we believe. If we can keep in control this way, then our actions will follow. So today, let’s pray for God to help us keep our thoughts pure. Keep our thoughts on things that he wants us to focus on. Let’s pray for his wisdom when temptations do come. Let’s remember that we are created in his image. And we can defeat anything that comes our way. Especially, when the evil one tries to creep in to our minds.

Lately have you found yourself in a place where nothing seems familiar? A place where you have nothing left? Has your faith been tested? What about having doubts? Doubting that you are capable of anything. Sometimes these things can be overwhelming. That can cause fear. We can lose confidence that we can help others. We don’t believe we are good to ourselves at all. So, how can we possibly be good to others? Fear not though. It’s moments like these that God is there waiting to build us back up.

We are all aware that Satan is a snake sneaking around. He uses whatever opportunities he can to destroy us. And it is moments like in the first paragraph where he thrives. Doing all he can to assure us that we are unworthy. We are hopeless. That God has forsaken us. So let’s work on battling him back. Putting him back in his place. Where he belongs. Let’s declare God‘s truth in our lives. We can shout it out. We can pray it quietly. We can speak it softly. Whatever way we decide to do it, let’s declare God is in control. Because he is.

So today let’s go to our knees. Let’s talk to God. Tell him are concerns. Let him know that our faith is weak in moments where it is. Let’s tell him we trust him. Let’s pray for strength that can only come from him. Today is the beginning of us knowing that we may stumble. We may fall. But today is also the day of us knowing that we can rise up with Jesus. We can press on. We can be confident and crush our doubts. We can face whatever comes our way because the Lord is our strength. And it is perfect. Finally, let’s believe that God has us. Because he loves us. He always has. He always will.

I’ve been asked many times about that night 33 years ago when I was paralyzed. People wonder if I would’ve done anything different. Such a great question. Ever wish you could go back in time and do something different? Make a different decision than what you had made? Maybe go somewhere, try something, or not go somewhere, or not try something different? Erase a mistake that you made? Or add to the successes that you had? Sure you do. I think all of us have had that thought at one point or another. Go back in time, knowing what you know now. Truth is though, we can learn from our past. Our mistakes and our successes.

But today, I think we should focus on where we are and where we are going. Let’s not focus solely on the past. Let’s move forward. Let’s move forward knowing that God has us. Think of it this way: “The person I was isn’t the person I am, nor is it the person that I hope to become.” Let’s look forward to what God has planned for us. We don’t want to forget where we have come from. We don’t want to forget where we have been. That’s part of knowing who we are. But reminding ourselves of our past, especially our mistakes, can get us into a rut that is hard to get out of. And that can limit us on serving God and showing his glory to others. Then that becomes a victory for the enemy. Not good!

So today, let’s try to be ready to move forward. Let’s try to build on our past. Not forget it. But, not dwell on it. Let’s use it to catapult us forward. Let’s believe that our best days are ahead of us. If we allow it, our faith will guide us. It’ll keep us on course. I know it’s not easy to do this all the time. Believe me, I’ve been there. I understand. But, faith will give us the strength to carry on. Despite what has happened, or what we are going through, faith will get us there. God has us covered. Whatever we are going through, he already knows. He will see us through. Which is exactly what he has done for me. He has seen me through. Of course, I wish I wasn’t paralyzed. But, I wouldn’t change my life one bit. He has blessed me. He will bless you too. 

Ever find yourself lacking faith because you thought what you were facing was impossible? Ever pray during that moment just because you needed to? I know I have. Lacking faith is human. Easy to do when things seem difficult. In the book of John, we read about the miracle of Jesus feeding the 5000. I’m guessing it’s probably more along the lines of 15,000. Maybe even up to around 20,000 or more. The Bible says it’s 5000 men. Most likely those guys were probably with their wives and children. Either way, 5000 or 20,000 is not the point that is important here. What Jesus was showing is what is important. Jesus was showing that we need to have faith even when it seems hopeless. We need to have faith even when it seems impossible.

Can you imagine what it must’ve been like to watch that happen? Can you imagine being there? Seeing Jesus feed the masses like that out of a handful of bread and fish. Wow! But as awesome as that must’ve been, just think of the faith that was being tested. Just think of how that might have strengthened your belief if you had been there. And that is the point. We need to believe that Jesus will be there for us. We need to believe that he will get us through, even when it seems impossible.

Now think about your life today. Think about times that have seemed impossible. Times where you did not know how you would get through. We have all had those. I have. My family has. Many times. And it was very difficult for us to keep our eyes on Jesus. Honestly, I’m sure there were moments where we didn’t. But guess what, Jesus saw us through. Even when we couldn’t believe it was possible. Sickness. Depression. Anxiety. Anger or hatred. The list goes on, and on, and on. He never wavered. Even when we did, Jesus never wavered. Always remained constant. He always remained faithful. We shouldn’t need to witness miracles like the 5000. We should just go to our knees and pray for his guidance. pray, while believing that Jesus has it under control. The end may not be what we hope or pray for it to be. The outcome may not go our way. But he will see us through. Our faith will be strengthened. We will be stronger through the outcome. No matter what. Then our testimony will be even more powerful. And others need to see that. So today, let’s have faith no matter what situation we are in.