Author: Scott

The recent weather that we have experienced in this area as we’re thinking about storms. Also, tomorrow is the 13th anniversary of the tornado that hit Joplin in 2011. That was a tremendous storm. I was blessed to interview 60 families that were in that tornado. Their stories truly humbled me. And I don’t mean because they were in the storm. I’m talking about how they handled being in the storm. I wish I could tell you what each of them said. But there’s too many for this devotion.

One that does stick out and is very fitting for what I’m writing today came from a member of the Charlie 22 Outdoors family. His story included his family being huddled together in the kitchen, as the roof of the house was tore off above their heads. And I mean it was gone. They looked up and they saw what was raging outside. His son looked up at him and said that he was scared. He looked at his son, and he said something along the lines of: “No worries son. Whatever happens, Jesus has us.” Wow! Wow! Wow! 

I love the Charlie 22 Outdoors family. I love how people believe in the mission. Believing in it and sharing it with others. Them sharing it with others might mean the most to me. Something else that really hits home with me is the willingness and boldness of our supporters to share lessons with me. To send me videos or other pieces of material that I can learn from. How our supporters are not afraid to hold me accountable. To make sure I stay focused on the mission. I love that. Our supporters are part of our family. And I know you always hear me say it takes me a family to battle veteran suicide. To do what we do takes a family. I received an email from one of our supporters. One of our family members. He sent me a link to a sermon by Dr. Charles Stanley. On storms. I’ll put the link at the bottom of this for you to go watch it. Very powerful. The biggest point of the sermon that I took from it was not so much on storms. But more importantly on how we handle storms. Because it is how we handle them that determines the results of them. Storms will either destroy us or they will develop us. They are inevitable in our lives. They’re going to come. And how we go through them is the key. What gives us the strength and the wisdom to get through them is our anchor. And our anchor is the Bible. God‘s word. We may think that we can handle things on our own. We don’t need God‘s word. Oh man…how wrong we are. How mistaken we are. We all need Godly wisdom to get through the storms that come. And that wisdom comes from the word. So today, make it a habit to go to the anchor daily. To give yourself the security and the stability to face the storms that come. And then let the storms develop you.

Here’s the link: https://youtu.be/qW8JKIMcMuU

“Mom. Dad. I messed up.“ Have you ever heard that? Have you ever said that? I bet most of us have experienced one or the other. Either way, it is not something that you want to hear from your young adult child at 3 o’clock in the morning. Your first thought goes to something terrible has happened. You’re dreading what it’s getting ready to be said next. You’re really worried. Just hoping everybody is safe. Then there is a real sign of relief when you find out they are safe. Nobody is hurt. And actually, nothing bad took place. Just a simple mistake. Something that can be easily taken care of. Very stressful to begin with. It can be exhausting. But turned out to be just fine.

Being a follower of Jesus does not mean we have a stress free life. Actually, I would say just the opposite. Many of us experience attacks daily from the evil one. He does that. He comes at you every way he can. Trying to bring us down. Trying to destroy your relationship with Jesus. Trying to keep us away from God. He’s relentless. It’s also exhausting at times. Battling him. We can grow restless. We can lose sleep. It seems like nothing we can do…can break the cycle. That’s part of being a believer. Knowing the attacks are coming. Knowing the mistakes are going to happen.

But here’s what is awesome about being a believer. Being a follower. Being a disciple of Christ. He knows our pains already. He knows our doubts. And he knows we’re gonna make mistakes. But just as we don’t turn away from our children when they make a mistake, he will not turn away from us. As we are there to help “our’s” fix their mistakes, Jesus is there to help us. When we feel crushed. When we feel broken hearted. When are spirits are down. Jesus is there. No mistake is too great. I hope that my children feel this way about Barbara and me. That we’re always gonna be here for them. Always gonna show them grace. Just as Jesus does for us. Here’s something that I read: “He holds us and pours out His peace. But we need to run to Him. We need to sit at His feet and let Him pour out His love, peace, and grace. And when we do that, when we rest in Him and let Him love us, our weary soul will be renewed and strengthened and ready for whatever comes next.” And that my friends is…Awesome!

We have said several times, being part of this world means we’re going to be part of struggles. We’re going to be part of times of difficulties. Times of loss. Times of heartache where there seems like no hope. This includes times where people that we trust harm us in ways we can never imagine. This includes times where we lose loved ones when it seemed like everything was fine. At some point, we need to realize that we need God to step in. We need God to restore us. We need to focus on the one who can heal us…instead of focusing on what has hurt us. And I think that begins with prayer.

In the Bible, we learn about Job. We learn about his struggles. We learn about how he handled loss. When everything seemed hopeless. He lost so much. Possessions. Health. Even his children. When all of this happened, God gave him instructions to simply pray. God told him to pray. Which is what he did. He prayed. Which is what we all should do. God knows our hearts. He knows what we are going through. He knew what Job was facing. And he was waiting to restore him. Just as he is waiting to restore us in our times of need. But it starts with us. It starts with us praying.

It’s easy for us to wonder why we need to pray if God knows what we’re going through. You may not like my answer. But I think prayer signals that we are submitting ourselves to God. I think prayer signals that we are humbling ourselves before God. I think that prayer tells God that we are focusing on him. That we are focusing on being restored and not on what caused the pain. Sometimes things happen to us that are out of our control. Sometimes they make no sense. No matter what is going on, let’s remember this, we have a God who loves us and understands our circumstances. And he is there to restore us and rebuild us. But we must turn to him first. He’s waiting. Because he loves us. He always has. He always will.

Recently, Harrison Butker addressed the graduating class at Benedictine. A Catholic school. His remarks were pointed and direct. I admire him for being willing to do so. I wish more people would stand by their convictions. I wish more people would listen to what God is telling them to do. And just like it seems to happen when someone takes a stand today, people on both sides of the aisle, picked up their torches and ran with them. Especially on Facebook. I have said many times, people feel safe behind computer screens. So much so, that they will type things that they would never say to someone face-to-face. This morning, I’m going to quote two important points made in the last couple of days.

“Be unapologetic in your masculinity, fighting against the cultural emasculation of men. Do hard things. Never settle for what is easy. You might have a talent that you don’t necessarily enjoy, but if it glorifies God, maybe you should lean into that over something that you might think suits you better.” This was one of the points that Harrison made to the men that were in attendance. Great advice. We definitely live in a time where emasculation of men is taking place. Something that we should be fighting tooth and nail. But I believe we should be fighting it with God and control. Letting him show us how to be men of God. Plain and simple. Using our talents to glorify him.

Tavia Hunt, the wife of Chiefs’ owner Clark Hunt, responded to all the backlash to the speech made by Harrison Butker. The part I want to bring to your attention goes hand-in-hand with what I was saying earlier about both sides of the aisle. I made a comment to a post about the whole thing. I was trying to show how he was praising women for their accomplishments with graduating college. Maybe I should’ve stayed out of the whole thing. But I didn’t. And then I was called a scared Republican. Some thing I can easily shrug off. But Harrison has been called a bigot. He’s been called a white supremacist. And I’m sure he has been called other things. Tavia said this: “I also caution against taking things out of context. Sound bites overlaid with hateful comments are not what we want to model for our children or others. We need more dialogue (and VALUES, IMO) in this country and less hate.” So today, let’s stop all of the backbiting. Finger-pointing. Disparaging each other. Let’s agree to disagree if we need to. Nothing wrong with that. Let’s work to glorify God in both our actions and in our words.

Raise your hand if you have ever felt weary or rundown. There have been times where I found myself in difficult seasons or moments where I wanted to just sit back and do nothing. I felt like I was exhausted. Exhausted from my day-to-day struggles. Exhausted from one step forward and two steps backwards. Nothing I did seem to be moving me in the right direction. Found myself waking up only wanting to go back to bed. Didn’t have the energy to do anything. Basically, I felt weary. These are all statements that I’m sure some of us have said at some point in our lives. Maybe you are saying them now.

If you catch yourself feeling this way, try to be alert. There’s a good chance that Satan is after you. Trying to keep you down. Doing what he can make you feel worthless. To make your situation to feel hopeless. Let’s remember the snake that he is. He is sneaky like that. That is his specialty. To make you feel unworthy. To make you feel like nothing you do matters. Don’t forget, he does this in the darkness because in the light he is exposed. More importantly, remember that God can get you through. He is the solution.

There is a catch though. There is a caveat we must remember. For God to work in our lives and to get us through, we must act. We must do something first. And that first “act of action” is for us to seek God first. Even when times seem bleak, we must seek him. Turn to him. Not only will you show us the way, he will give us the energy to do so. The strength to face the struggles ahead. The wisdom to discern the best course of action. He will take us step, by step, by step. That will require us to endure the journey. Trusting that he knows what is best. And that is how he will restore us. That is how he will restore you. Step-by-step. Day-by-day. Blessing each action you take in your faith.

Losing a job can be humbling. It can rock you to your core. Losing two jobs can be life altering. It can change the course of your life. It did me. In 2005, I lost a job that I had held for over a decade. It made me feel expendable. And that’s a bad feeling. But, I didn’t dwell on it. I learned from it. I built on it. Our faith based basketball program came out of the whole situation. In 2020, due to budget cuts from the virus, my position with the state was cut. But by this point in my life, I knew there was a reason. God was closing one door as he was opening another. Actually, the floodgates opened. Charlie 22 Outdoors exploded after the state let me go.

We all experience loss at some time in our lives. Loss comes at us in many different forms. There’s death. There’s being let go from our jobs. There is the end of relationships. When we play sports, we will lose at some point. And there are so many other ways that we experience loss. It’s going to happen. Nothing that we can do to prevent it. Being human means we’re going to have to face it. Sometimes what we lose has very little meaning in the big scheme of things. At other times, loss can have long lasting affects on us. Sometimes they can’t be replaced.

Although, what we go through can be very painful, God can use those moments in big ways. In the Bible we read of Ruth. Losing her husband was not her end. She remained faithful. Followed her convictions. She didn’t stay focused on what happened. She didn’t stay focused on her circumstances. Instead, she moved forward as she was feeling sorrow. As she was feeling loss. And because so, God blessed her. And those around her saw it. They learned from it. We can all learn from it. We should all learn that God can restore us if we remain faithful. God can take what seems like the end and make it a beginning. God can take what seems like has been turned upside down and make it righteous. God can restore anything if we let him work. And if you let him work, others will see it. And they will grow as well. And that my friends…is glorious.

Anna has finished her first full year in the Social Work program at Missouri Southern State University. This is such a blessing for her. She had been struggling trying to figure out which way she wanted to go. She was accepted into nursing school. But, she soon  realized that was not the path for her. After researching different options, she felt like God was telling her this is where she needs to be. So awesome. Part of the application process included writing an essay. And in that essay she needed to do discuss why it is she wants to be a Social Worker. 

She talked about being lost in her journey, trying to figure out her career path. I don’t blame her. When I was 19, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do. Then she began talking about praying to God for wisdom. And how he started to show her different things to consider. And then he put it on her heart that Social Work was the way to go. With our family history of medical issues, hospital Social Workers have played an important role in our lives. Anna is going to be fantastic at that. Then she began to mention praying over, and even helping, others who have hurt her. People who have done her wrong. Wow! We can all learn from that. Talk about taking a heart that has been broken by those that you trust, and then turning around and helping them anyways. Amazing stuff. Very clearly…this demonstrates how our hearts should be focused on what God has for us.

There’s a lot of brokenness in this world today. A lot of hate. A lot of evil. Every time you turn around, you see someone harming somebody else. Or trying to. Just turn on the evening news at the national level and I bet several stories of the week will be discussing these very things. You see it at the national level of our politicians as well. There’s so many good people there. I like to think that they are doing their jobs the best they can. But, there are also so many people there just back biting each other. Just fighting back-and-forth to be fighting back-and-forth. Crazy stuff. I find it childish. And I am wondering how much the rest of the world laughs at us. If I let it, it could be disheartening. But I choose not to. The solution to all of these things that we are seeing is to break our hearts. And to let God take control. If we let God take over our lives, good things will happen. We let God take over our homes, good things will happen. We let God take over our nation, good things will happen. We let God take over our world, good things will happen. We won’t have to be reacting. We won’t have to change the channel because we can’t stand watching what we’re seeing on TV. We won’t have to do these things because, God will help us prevent all the ugliness before it takes place.

If you follow what I write, I don’t think it’s a secret that I am a sports fan. I love all sports. Basketball being my favorite. I just admire what athletes are able to accomplish. Truly incredible. I tell you that to tell you this. There’s a good chance if you were to come visit me any morning of the week, you would find SportsCenter on my TV. Catching up on what happened the day before. Recently, as I was getting ready, a story came on that caught my attention. It was about Derick Hall. For those of you that don’t know, he is a linebacker who played at Gulfport High School. And went on to Auburn to become 1st Team all SEC. Was drafted by the Seattle Seahawks. But what caught my attention is the story about him being born.

His mother went into labor 4 months early. The doctors told her he would be born without a heartbeat. They said he had a 1% chance to live. And if he did live, he most likely would never walk, talk, breathe, anything. They prepared her to let him go. But she refused. Her comment was that she needed to give him a chance. And that God had selected her to be his mother. After five months in the hospital, he went home and began his childhood. It wasn’t without difficulties. But as he grew, he developed into an incredible athlete. And none of this would’ve happened if she had decided to let him go. If she had no hope. A 1% chance grew into an NFL athlete. Simply amazing.

Our spiritual lives can be like this. Some of us feel like we don’t have a chance . We have no hope. We feel like the 1%. We feel like there’s nothing that we can do to change that. Nothing we can do can give us hope. And we are right. Because nothing that we can do will change it. Nothing we can do will give us hope. All of that comes from Jesus. Plain and simple. Jesus is our hope. Jesus can change anything. Jesus can take us from 1% to a life full of grace. A life full of hope and love. No matter how dark. No matter how bleak. No matter how hopeless life seems. We always have a chance with Jesus. He can pull us up from the depths that we have put ourselves in. He can bring us out of places that we have found ourselves in because of our choices. He can do all of these things for anyone. And that includes you. If you don’t know Jesus, make today the day to get to know him. Make today the day that you give yourself a chance by letting Jesus take control. And watch what happens. It will be awesome.

It’s that time of year. The time of year when the NBA season is drawing to a close. The playoffs are in full swing. This is the best time of the season in my eyes. Because this is the time that I believe the players really perform at the highest level. I first picked up a basketball when I was in the 5th grade. I remember it like it was yesterday. It was one of those plastic rubbery things. Not the greatest. It even warped into egg shape one day when I left it in the sun. Believe me…lesson learned. But regardless of it’s condition, it was still my ball. It felt good in my hands. There was an instant connection. And I knew I wanted to learn how to play the game. The seed had been planted. 

As I grew into my teenage years, I developed a love for the game. I felt drawn to it. I was never satisfied with my ability. Constantly practicing and playing to get better. What’s brilliant about the game is that you can play it alone. It can be the goal, the ball, and you. Beautiful. Basketball was something I could turn to when I needed a release. Or a time to work on me. At any moment I could work and grow. What’s also brilliant about the game is the ability to play on a team. And the lessons we can learn from teamwork. Life lessons. Especially in practice. I loved practice more than the games. The learning that I got during the workouts. Alone or as a team. And the same can be said about my walk with Christ. Yours too. 

When we first accept Jesus, the seed is planted. The love relationship begins. We have joined his team. But we have much learning to do. Therefore we must pursue him as he has pursued us. We must become intimate with him. This is how we grow. We learn to practice our faith. Building different skills in it. Strengthening them. Prayer. Love. Patience. Discernment. So many more. All skills we can improve on. We can work on our faith by ourselves and also as part of a team. As we continue to grow we will move towards maximizing our potential. And here is what is awesome about this whole thing. What is awesome about working on our faith. God will show us our greatness. He will bring it out. He will use it for his good. But remember, for this to happen, we need to work on drawing close to him. Seek him. Pursue him. Make him our focus. And he in return he will bring it out of us.

One thing that is hard for us to do is to surrender ourselves to something. To turn our desires and goals over to somebody else. We live in a world where “Get Yours” is the motto. Meaning go out and take it. Put yourself above others. You are number one. And so on, and so on, and so on. By being a believer, we are supposed to surrender to God’s will. We are supposed to put others before ourselves. These are ways that we are showing that we are truly following God. Surrendering.

Now here’s the deal. Surrendering does not mean there is no action. Actually, surrendering is an act. It’s an act of us moving forward following God. It is an act of us seeking his will for us. Following the path that he has paved for us. One day at a time. One step at a time. We must move forward. Even if we don’t know where God is leading us. We must move forward. Even if we don’t know, we must surrender.

If we do this, God will show us where he wants us to be. He will place us there. It might not happen today or tomorrow. It might take longer than we hoped. But, he will show us. Yesterday, Barbara and I watched the production Esther. This story is a great example of what I’m talking about. She became queen without them knowing she was Jewish. A decree had even been put into place to kill all the Jewish people. Malachi was very concerned about her. He thought that she wasn’t where she was supposed to be. She was in a bad spot. But nothing could have been further from the truth. She was exactly where God wanted her to be. And he blessed the whole situation. So maybe you are as well. Either way, whatever it is that you’re doing, the Bible tells us to put our heart and soul into every activity. It tells us to do every activity like we are doing it for the Lord himself. If we do that, God will bless it. He will bless us. So today, keep moving forward. Keep serving God. Keep serving him in all that you do. And he will put you where he wants you to be.