Total Contentment, Joy And Confidence In Your Everyday Experience of God - A Healthy Soul

John Ortberg, a pastor of a large church, asked his friend and mentor, Dallas Willard, what he needed to do to help his church experience greater levels of spiritual growth.  John was frustrated because the people of his church were not “changing” in the positive spiritual ways he was hoping for.

After John’s question Dallas paused for a long time and said, “You must arrange your days so that you are experiencing deep contentment, joy, and confidence in your everyday life with God.”

John’s response to Dallas’ instruction was:  “Huh?”

They talked about Dallas’ answer and after some conversation back and forth John said this…

“But how can I have total contentment, joy, and confidence? … My work isn’t going nearly well enough.  Lots of people are not happy with me.  I am inadequate as a pastor, husband, and father.  Every week I carry the burden of delivering a sermon and knowing I’ll have to feel the pain it if doesn’t go well.”

Dallas then responded like this…

“I didn’t say you should experience total contentment, joy, and confidence in the remarkable adequacy of your competence or the amazingly successful circumstances of your life.  It’s total contentment, joy, and confidence in your everyday experience of God.  This alone is what makes a soul healthy.”

John shares this exchange in his book, “Soul Keeping: Caring For The Most Important Part of You.”  What Dallas told John sounds like a very simple idea but it is profound.  I encourage you to take a moment to quietly, seriously ponder the truth of what he said.  When I read this story earlier today it touched, encouraged and challenged my heart in a significant way. 

I want to find contentment, joy and confidence in God.  I want to find delight in Him, in the midst of all the circumstances of life.  Is that really possible?  I believe it is. 

I hope, as you consider these thoughts, God uses them to do something significant for your heart, too.

Dan Marler

First Church of God

Oak Lawn, IL

The Christmas Present I Did Not Get

When I was 15 years old I was delighted to discover that two of my cousins, who were brothers, had received brand new shotguns as Christmas presents.  These cousins were aged 16 and 14.

I thought, “This is fantastic!  What a stroke of good fortune.  This clearly sets a precedent for the type of Christmas presents that can be expected within our larger family circle.”

I promptly informed my dad that I would love to get a shotgun for Christmas.

After he looked at me as if I had 3 heads and each of the three heads were illuminated with hair that was on fire, he said, “No, you can’t have a shotgun.”

I said, “Marcus and Thomas got shotguns for Christmas, this year.  I’m basically the same age they are, in fact, I’m older than Thomas.”

My dad said, “They live in rural Mississippi.  They have lots of wide open space and everybody hunts down there.  It’s a normal activity.  You live in Chicago.  I can’t have you walking around with a shotgun.”

I wanted to say, “Technically we live in the suburbs, not the city proper, and right across the street from our house is wide open forest preserve property which would be just perfect for some shotgun shooting.”  But a) I never talked back to my dad in that way, since I valued life; and b) it was beginning to dawn on me that my dad was not going to recognize this Christmas present precedent as applicable to our situation.  So, I didn’t say anything further about the shotgun request.

I got socks for Christmas, that year.

I put a couple of 12 gauge shells in the socks but I guess it’s no surprise that they didn’t fire.

The Importance of Helping To Develop The Gifts of Others

When we see talents, aptitudes, skills and possibilities in others and help them recognize those things in themselves we are assisting in the development of that person. This is an important part of what it means to live responsibly. Interestingly, this kind of action which helps others is also helpful to our own growth and maturity.

We Cannot Control Other People

We cannot control other people.  Sometimes, we would really like to have a bit of control over others.  We’d like to help them understand certain things.  We’d like to help them avoid difficulties.  We’d like to give them some of the benefit of our experience.  And it may be true that we can have some positive influence.  We may be able to have a measure of helpful persuasion.  But, the bottom line is that we cannot control others.  Most of the time, to be honest, we have our hands full trying to control ourselves.

Let Go of Fear And Trust The Good Shepherd

It would be easy to let fear overwhelm and control us.  When we hear the news and contemplate the actions that regularly occur fearful thoughts and feelings would not be an unusual response.  But we have to continue to live and a life consumed by fear is not a life well lived.  I’ve re-read Psalm 23 today and I’m choosing to let go of fear and put my trust in the Good Shepherd.

Hmm... The Munsters Was Not Realistic?

When I was a kid—long, long, long ago—my family was watching a television sitcom, one evening.  It was a show called The Munsters.  (Remember that one?)

At one point, during the broadcast, my mom said, “Oh, come on!” 

She was indicating that what was happening in the storyline of the show was unrealistic.

I just was sitting here and that moment from long ago popped into my mind and I laughed.  Are you enjoying the humor of this?  My mom was accusing The Munsters of not being realistic.

“Really, mom?  There’s something in the plot of The Munsters that isn’t realistic?!?”

I know, I’m easily amused.  But it really is fun for me to think about the fact that my mom was charging The Munsters with an inaccurate portrayal of reality.  She really could be a riot!

Fortunately, in those days—even though we had to put up with the silly nonsense of The Munsters—there were also moments when we could balance it out with the gritty dramatic realism of Gilligan’s Island.

The Accidental Pager Theft

As I got out of the car, after lunch, I stuck my hand into the pocket of my jacket and was surprised when I pulled out the pager from the restaurant.

“Oops!” I said.  When I went to the counter to pick up my order I forgot to put the restaurant’s pager back in the basket.

Just a few seconds later I heard a nearby police siren.

“Wow, they are fast!” I thought to myself.  And I dove under our van.

Fortunately, the police weren’t coming to get me, after all, which is good because my dive under the van was only in my imagination.  So, I would have been very easy to spot and apprehend.

You say, “Dan, you’re going to take the pager back, aren’t you?’’

Of course, I am!  Can’t you tell that I’m not wired up to handle a life of crime?

…Although, I’ve thought about this a good bit and I would prefer if you would all call me “Bugsy,” from now on.

Thank you.

Sincerely yours,

Bugsy Marler

It's Better To Be Optimistic

Research has shown that, in general, it’s better to have an optimistic attitude than a pessimistic attitude in life.  This does not mean that we should be unrealistic or deny reality.  But when our beliefs and attitudes are optimistic they result in confidence that positively affects what we say and do; it actually produces positive effects on our performance.  Hey, since it helps in some way, why not be optimistic, huh?  Come on, see what happens.

“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” Philippians 4:8

Easter 2014 - Audio Podcast

1 Corinthians 15:3-9

                           Click here for podcast!

Atheist Regimes Offer Evidence That We Need God

The fact that many of us do not have a great memory for history means we may assume God can be abandoned by a culture and it won’t really matter. Atheistic regimes, however, have been, by far, the most murderous in human history. 

We can walk away from God and convince ourselves there will be no significant consequences.  But that will be a serious mistake. Abandoning God matters. I’m urging us to remember history and think carefully.  If you know me, you know I am not a doom and gloom kind of guy.  Really.  I’m not.  I prefer happy messages, pretty rainbows, splashing in the waves and joking around.  But, I promise you, we will find that a godless culture won’t bode well for us.

Atheist Governments In The 20^th Century:

Mao Ze-Dong (China, Tibet)     49-78,000,000 murdered

Jozef Stalin (USSR)       15,000,000 murdered

Pol Pot (Cambodia)      1,700,000 murdered

Kim II Sung (North Korea)   1,600,000 murdered

Tito (Yugoslavia)          570,000

[NOTE: These sad numbers represent atheist leaders killing their own citizens.  And there are more, but you get the point… ]

“The total body count for the ninety years between 1917 and 2007 is approximately 148 million dead at the bloody hands of fifty-two atheists, three times more than all the human beings killed by war, civil war, and individual crime in the entire twentieth century combined.” Vox Day

I don’t write this with a self-righteous attitude.  I’m not wagging a finger at anyone.  In fact, I was hesitant to post this message.  But I’m writing it because I think it’s important to know these things.  My intention is to say this humbly and lovingly:  We need God.

Lucy Graduates From Dog Obedience School - Is Grad School Next?

Lucy graduated from Dog Obedience school tonight.  It’s a proud moment.  Nadia was very nervous.  Lucy says she’s going to take some time off and perhaps go backpacking through Europe.  After that, she’s looking into grad school.

T.H.E. Cat Is A Real TV Show... I'm Not Crazy, After All!

As a young adult, when I would get into conversations with others about TV shows that we watched as children, I mentioned a show titled “T.H.E. Cat.”  Invariably I would be met with blank stares, looks of concern, lots of deep sighs and comments like this:  “I don’t remember that one, Dan.  Perhaps it’s time for you to take some medication, huh?”

In fact, I almost started to think that maybe I did, somehow, make up memories of watching the show and it never really existed in the first place.  (After all, I made up those memories of Bruce Lee and I going to ninja school together.)

But then came the Internet and all of the world’s most obscure information was now just a few keystrokes away.  With great joy—and a touch of relief—I discovered that a TV show titled “T.H.E. Cat” did, in fact, exist! 

YES!!!!  I didn’t make it up, after all!

T.H.E. Cat aired on NBC during the 1966-1967 television season.  The star of the series was Robert Loggia.  There are clips from the show that can be viewed on YouTube.

You say, “For crying out loud, so what, Dan?  Who cares?  Why are you even writing about this?!?”

Here’s why:  There is a section on each person’s Facebook page, which lists favorite TV shows and I’m fairly certain I am the ONLY person, of the hundreds of millions of Facebook users, who lists T.H.E. Cat as a favorite TV show. 

In fact, you know what?  I’m just going to come right out and boldly put it here in writing:  I’m positive—absolutely positive—I have to be the ONLY person in the entire realm of Facebook who lists “T.H.E. Cat” as a favorite TV show!

Okay, that’s pretty much all I needed to report, at this time.  You may now return to your regularly scheduled online activities.