I need a new vision.

I’m not getting much of a vision by scrolling on my phone. In fact, it’s making me depressed. It’s supposed to make me feel connected to the whole world, but I can’t handle the whole world. It’s too much. It’s too heavy. I quit.

I need a new vision of God. I need to feel connected to God again – to the One who can handle the universe. Like Isaiah, I need to see some things with new eyes. It was around 740 B.C., “the year that King Uzziah died.” The Lord graciously showed the prophet some critical realities which were sure to leave a lasting impression (Isaiah 6).

I need a lasting impression, friends. Deep within my soul, today, I’m finding consolation in an old Irish hymn …

Be Thou my vision, O Lord of my heart
Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art
Thou my best thought, by day or by night
Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light!

I need to remember the smoke and the fire. There were seraphim, for goodness’ sake! “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!” What was Isaiah thinking? What was he hearing? What was he smelling? Whatever it was, it was enough for him to recognize himself as the wretch that he really was. A wretch like me. I need to remember how awesome the whole experience of seeing the Lord must have been!

I need to remember the grace and the glory. “Woe is me! I am a man of unclean lips.” Yep. That’s me. But my God has already made provision for that. Just as He provided for Isaiah, He has provided for me, but even better. He has sent His Son, to live the life that I failed to live, and to die the death that I deserved. What love! Isaiah didn’t earn it, and he didn’t do a thing except receive that loving touch: “Your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.”

I need to remember my calling. “Here I am! Send me.” I’m not worthy, but that never stopped the Lord from calling a servant into action. He might even put me on the frontlines today. And, wherever He sends us today, He goes with us. He is always manifestly present with us. We are His covenant people. We are the sheep of His pasture.

I need to remember a sovereign plan that blows my mind. Some hearts God will soften, and some He will harden. Who am I to question His wisdom or His ways? I’m simply the ambassador of His good news. The way before us may seem steep, friends, and the spiritual terrain difficult to navigate. Like Isaiah, at times, we’ll feel like crying: “How long, O Lord?” But He is here, and He will answer.

God, fix my eyes on You. On You alone. Please drown out the news and the noise of this world. May I be left with You, and may I find my complete satisfaction in Jesus Christ.

Riches I heed not, nor vain, empty praise
Thou mine inheritance, now and always
Thou and Thou only first in my heart
High King of heaven, my treasure Thou art!

Friends, perhaps some of you can hear my heart today. You can’t see me, but you can hear my heart. May the same be true of your walk with God on this autumn day in 2023. Maybe you can’t see the Lord working in all the ways in which you desire to see Him work … but, in your heart of hearts, you know that He’s right there with you …

High King of heaven, my victory won
May I reach heaven’s joys, O bright heaven’s sun
Heart of my own heart, whatever befall
Still be my vision, O ruler of all!

Pastor Charles

My soul longs. It always desires more. It hungers. It seeks. It thirsts. Indeed, it craves. My soul is like a yearning machine. This can take the form of selfish idolatry, in which case I am perpetually unsatisfied and ungrateful. Or it can take the form of a holy longing for that which is of eternal value.

I don’t always know which one I’m experiencing. I can’t trust my heart, exclusively, to guide me (Jeremiah 17:9). It can be as crooked as a rural road in East Tennessee. But some of those same roads can be the most beautiful. Here’s my point: though it can become severely misdirected this side of heaven, my byzantine heart has the capacity to deeply love that which is truly lovely. And, if you’re a follower of Jesus Christ, then I’m going to loop you into my musings today.

As believers under the New Covenant, you see, Jeremiah doesn’t tell our entire story. Thankfully, the New Testament adds some critical clarity for us. Please allow me to mention just a few key truths. First of all, God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit (Romans 5:5). Secondly, though we were once slaves of sin, now we have become obedient from the heart (Romans 6:17). Thirdly, we can draw near to God with a true heart in full assurance of faith (Hebrews 10:22). Fourthly, we can know that we are of the truth, and we can reassure our heart before God, who is greater than our heart (1 John 3:20). And, if our heart does not condemn us, we can have confidence before the Lord (1 John 3:21).

Yes, you and I are a bit complicated. We still have to wrestle with some of our old sinful and selfish longings. But, by the power of the Spirit who now lives in us, we also have some new and renewed and unselfish longings. After all, because of Jesus, you and I are nothing short of new creations (2 Corinthians 5:17).

WE LONG to feel fully alive. Though our actions sometimes suggest otherwise, none of us wants to remain in a state of perpetual boredom. We may like wasting a little time here or there, but it never satisfies in the ultimate sense. Our cell phones can hold our attention, but they can’t satisfy any of our deepest needs.

WE LONG for the true and beautiful. During different seasons of life, we may be drawn to music with dissonant sounds … or to “art” without rhyme or reason … or to various forms of entertainment which glorify senseless violence. We’ve all been there at one time or another. But, in the end, God has wired us with a profound appreciation for that which makes purposeful sense in its design and display – and which points clearly to God’s own perfections.

WE LONG to be known and loved. Every time I prepare a couple for marriage, I remind them that this is what they both want from the other. I’ve never had a person argue that point with me, because we all know it’s true. This is why the truth of God’s grace toward us is so revolutionary. It is beyond our wildest dreams that the one who knows us best is also the one who loves us most. Thanks be to God!

WE LONG to be understood. Not just the couples planning for marriage, but all of us. We want someone who knows us so well that they can nearly complete our sentences. We want someone who accepts us – warts and all – and who gives us the benefit of the doubt on a regular basis. We want someone who cares about what we think, and how we feel. We want to matter.

WE LONG to enjoy that which is truly enjoyable. We’re weary of lukewarmness. We’re hungry for passion. Left to our own devices, we’ll channel that energy in the wrong direction. So we long for a day when all of our passions will be spent for the glory of God. When our delight will be in Christ, and in Christ alone. When we will live for an audience of One.

WE LONG to make a difference while we’re here. When it’s all said and done, will my impact upon this planet be for good? Will my time here have been well spent? Will my little ripples in the pond point anybody in the right direction? I’m so glad that the Author of my story is also the one who writes the final chapter.

WE LONG for perfect justice. There’s just something so broken about this place … we know that there are no human solutions … none of this injustice will be fixed without a cosmic miracle. “How long, O Lord?” We’re ready for the will of God to be done “on earth as it is in heaven.”

WE LONG to be liberated from a world of evil and strife. We recognize that no human being can broker the kind of peace that this world needs – in the Middle East or anywhere else. Our hearts crave the “shalom” which the Bile promises – the “peace which surpasses all understanding.”

WE LONG for the unbroken presence of God. Sooner or later, we tire of the mountaintop-to-valley spiritual rollercoaster ride. We don’t want another string of short-lived victories followed by another paralyzing defeat by our nagging sin. We get sick and tired of a spiritual journey where our growth in grace keeps getting punctuated by our own pride and ego. We’re ready to be done with all of the shortsighted and myopic spiritual amnesia which all too often has been ours. No. More. Sin. What we’re really longing for is home.

Perhaps C.S. Lewis summarized it best: “If I find in myself desires which nothing in this world can satisfy, the only logical explanation is that I was made for another world.”

Pastor Charles

As the beautiful days of autumn keep coming, our hearts are stirred to worship the gracious God who has allowed us to live in such a gorgeous part of His world. We ought to thank Him for each new day. Around this time of year, many of us used to sing, “For the beauty of the earth … Lord of all, to Thee we raise this our hymn of grateful praise!” I believe that, when we consider God’s bountiful care for us, we ought to praise Him for the freedom that is ours to make Christ known to others. I consider such freedom nothing short of a sacred trust, and a sacred responsibility.

Religious liberty matters for everybody. Just a few years ago, most people engaged in American political life understood this. It wasn’t that long ago, 1993 in fact, when Senator Ted Kennedy and Congressman Chuck Schumer advanced the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. That successful attempt to rearticulate the religious freedoms enshrined in the First Amendment was a political landslide, applauded by national leaders on both sides of the aisle. If you’re interested in the details, the RFRA passed unanimously in the U.S. House, and received only 3 “nay” votes in the Senate. And it was President Bill Clinton who signed it into law.

We’re now at a place where many, even within the church, are skeptical about the priority of religious freedom. I’m not entirely sure how we landed here so quickly, but we did. If you will allow me, I’d like to share with you why I’m praying for a revival of appreciation for what it means for you and me to enjoy the manifold blessings of a free church in a free state.

First of all, I feel compelled to remind you that religious liberty means so much more than what many today are labeling “freedom of worship.” Religious liberty surely includes the right to worship as we choose, but it also means that you and I are entitled to the freedom of conscience. We don’t have to think as we are told to think, and we don’t have to leave behind our personal convictions when we take a new job, or when we enter into a discussion in the public square. This freedom, I believe, is why we have been given a First Amendment, built right into the framework of American government. It is a remarkable blessing.

I am not at all claiming that you and I could not honor God, or live faithfully for Christ, without a First Amendment. That would be a ludicrous claim, as many of our brothers and sisters are serving our Lord joyfully under brutal dictatorial regimes across the globe, even as I pen these words. But I am saying that you and I should think long and hard before we abandon our religious freedoms by sheer neglect. After all, the best way to preserve a liberty is to exercise it. While we have such freedom, we ought to make much of Jesus wherever and however we can.

And I’m urging you not to fall for the deception that it is somehow inappropriate, at this particular point in history, for us to live as public ambassadors for Christ. There seem to be many in the culture who want us to leave our Christian ideology at home, but that’s not possible, friends. That’s not who we are. That’s not in keeping with our Lord’s marching orders for us. We must recognize that everybody, literally, brings their fundamental presuppositions into their discussions of important subjects. Buddhists and Muslims do it. Atheists and Marxists do it. So do followers of Christ. Expressing the beliefs that are most central to our souls is part of what it means to be human. It’s what God’s image bearers do by our nature. God communicates from the heart, and so do we.

It is a cruel thought that any government would seek to deprive any person, in any place or at any time, of such freedom. Such action would be far beyond the boundaries of any government’s God-ordained function as the state. While you and I have influence, surely we should speak up on this subject.

Fundamentally, friends, this is not an “American” concern. Tertullian, the prolific African thinker and writer who was born in Carthage in 160 A.D., rightly understood that religion arises from inner conviction, not from external coercion, and that the inherent freedom of the human soul must be cherished and protected. I contend that you and I ought to deeply desire that fundamental freedom for every person on Planet Earth.

I’m not advocating for any kind of hostile takeover. You and I must live humbly and respectfully in our lane as well. I’m simply advocating for a little more “robust winsomeness” on our part. Like that term? I just made it up. This is how I see the Apostle Paul conducting his ministry in Athens in Acts 17. He isn’t foaming at the mouth with anger, but he is right there in the Areopagus, in the middle of all the action. He isn’t despairing because he has to function within a broad marketplace of competing philosophies, but he shows tremendous compassion and grace by seeking to understand where the people around him are coming from. He doesn’t speak down to the crowds or try to silence the voices of his detractors, but he does share the saving gospel of Christ when the moment is right. This is LOVE. So, I suppose, I’m calling us to love.

As followers of the Lord Jesus Christ, you and I are His salt and His light (Matthew 5:13-16). We preserve the truth. We stall the decay. We shine a ray of hope into the darkest places here on earth. Will this be an easy road? Hardly. Far, far from it. It was never intended to be easy.

But we do not travel this road alone.

Pastor Charles

It was a cosmic invasion. Two millennia ago, our Creator invaded space and time. He who had decreed, “Let there be light” … came to be the light. To lead us out of darkness. To give us the light of life. To give us Himself.

I was the arrogant and volatile warmonger, blindly desperate for a heavenly intervention. I was the wayward rebel who needed to be captured. Myself the last to know the truth, my prognosis was fatal. I supplied only the brokenness. He subdued me, using only the weapons of mercy and kindness. Sacred weapons. Sacred weapons indeed.

And my capture would mean my freedom. Nothing on earth could have liberated me. No philosophy or ethic or power. No slick or sophisticated political maneuver. No impressive religious observance.

But the lover of my soul ran to redeem me. I had spent all of my time distancing myself from His perfections, but He bridged the gap that I couldn’t even see. He embraced a militant enemy. He made me someone new.

And He keeps invading. He cherishes even foolish wanderers like me. Sooner or later, He helps me see what human eyes can’t see.

I see a world in need of what can only be freely received. It can’t be bought or earned. What we need is like the wind. It’s as real as real can be, but it comes from another place.

We need a light in the darkness. We need the one who is the only hope of shepherds and presidents and kings. We need God with us! And, in every corner of our Father’s world, we need an explosion of His grace. We supply only the brokenness.

It’s not yet Christmastime, but the words of an angel army still ring true. They beckon us to a renewed and desperate compassion for a broken and war-torn planet …

“Peace on earth, goodwill to men.”

Pastor Charles

I’m observing quite a bit of conflict, including sharp disagreements among sincere Christians, stemming from events in the Middle East. Here are my thoughts. They don’t fall neatly into any one camp, but I don’t mind.

1. The church has not replaced Israel. The church is the continuation of Israel. We Gentiles are the ingrafted branches, by faith, into the same tree. Surely we have fondness for Abraham, one of the spiritual fathers with whom God has blessed us all.

2. There aren’t two paths to salvation, Jewish and Gentile. There is only one way, and Christ is that Way. There is no other way.

3. Some of the promises God made to Israel find their fulfillment in the church. Other promises were made to ethnic Israel. This is not a contradiction, but a matter of God revealing the good news of His kingdom at different times and in different places. But it’s all the telling of one story, and that story leads to none other than Jesus Christ.

4. The “end times” described in Scripture were not given to us to frighten us. Nor were they given to puff us up with pride because “we’ve got it all figured out.” We don’t. There is mystery in the ways of God, and that’s as it should be. He is God, and we are not. What we can understand about eschatology was given to make us bold and confident in Christ, our gracious Messiah, even in a day of relentless distress.

5. Regardless of our particular theological camp, we ought not live as if we’re destined to escape suffering here on earth. We should expect to suffer. No teaching of “rapture” should work in us any mindset other than the passionate desire to remain faithful to the end.

6. When it comes to these great doctrines, we can agree to disagree about some of the finer points. We all have blind spots, and we all unknowingly operate under false assumptions. The reality of eternity calls us to humility. This much we know for sure: the Lord is coming again!

7. To love God is to love God’s people, and to love those who are not yet God’s people. Christ wept over Jerusalem. Christ wept at the grave of Lazarus. On the eve of His sacrificial death for you and for me, Christ wept in the garden. He weeps over human sin and suffering, and His weeping crosses every ethnic boundary. May we weep whenever God’s image-bearers are slaughtered or oppressed, be they Jewish or Gentile, and may we pray for Christ’s own peace – His gorgeous and glorious “shalom” – to reign in every heart.

Pastor Charles

I’ve made multiple trips to Armenia over the last couple of decades, where I’ve served Christ alongside the Armenian Relief Mission – mostly in the cities of Yerevan and Vanadzor. (ARM was born after the devastating Spitak earthquake of 1988.) On a couple of those trips, Eileen has been able to join me. We fell in love with the gracious Armenian people. When delivering food to people living in abandoned shipping crates, we learned just how far a family can stretch a bag of potatoes to prepare for brutal winter conditions. ARM has built a number of playgrounds over the years. This photo was captured in 2006, and you can see why Eileen and I left part of our heart in Armenia.

Armenia’s history includes a number of exceedingly tragic chapters. Perhaps the harshest example is the Armenian Genocide of 1915-1916, when the Ottoman Empire annihilated as many as 1.2 million Armenians. In fact, in the vocabulary of international law, the origin of the term “genocide” dates back to that horrrific event on the world stage. Turkish authorities, supported by auxiliary troops and sometimes civilians, perpetrated the vast majority of the murders.

But there has always been a gospel light in Armenia! You can sense this when you’re there among the people. Many historians trace Christianity in Armenia back to the apostles, and there is evidence of a Christian community in Armenia prior to the fourth century. In fact, Christianity was declared Armenia’s official religion in the year 301. I have found it thrilling to preach the gospel, train pastors, minister to refugees, and deliver medical supplies on my various mission trips to the land where Mount Ararat – the resting place of Noah’s Ark after the flood – remains the national symbol. So I wish I could report to you that all is well in Armenia, but that is not the case. It is, yet again, a country threatened by hostile forces and plagued by relentless turmoil.

Here’s a synopsis of the present crisis in that part of God’s world. Azerbaijan is forcibly blockading the small statelet of Nagorno-Karabakh. This is the Armenian region of Artsakh, and it’s a mountainous territory in the South Caucasus. (Think of where Eastern Europe meets West Asia.) The blockade is threatening more and more lives, as the Armenians are being prevented from receiving necessary food, medical, and fuel supplies. Ilham Aliyev, the president of Azerbaijan, seems drunk with power. Aliyev is capitalizing on this humanitarian crisis to stoke the flames of longstanding racial prejudice and to push Azeri (Azerbaijani) forces further and further into Armenia. This is nothing short of the same demonic sort of ethnic cleansing that the people have faced before. Remember, Armenia is a Christian nation completely surrounded by Islamic nations. On top of that, Armenia is totally landlocked.

For Armenia, all of this means more and more refugees living in desperate conditions. Right now, by way of example, there are displaced families crowded into the orphanage that sits adjacent to one of the medical clinics operated by the Armenian Relief Mission. The conditions are heartbreaking.

I’m inviting you to partner with me in bringing hope and joy to some Armenian children this Christmas. Similar to last year’s project, we will make holiday boxes available to you and your kids, which you can supply with personal expressions of love and care. We will give you a packing list with your empty box, and you will return the box filled and labeled by age and gender. For the children who receive these boxes – each box hand delivered by evangelical followers of Jesus – you will have made a colossal impact for good in what is otherwise a very difficult season.

As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life.
1 Timothy 6:17-19

Despite the sobering nature of this blog posting, we can be certain that “God seeks what has been driven away” (Ecclesiastes 3:15). The Armenians have endured bitter treatment and harsh conditions for much of human history, but we trust that our sovereign God – who is not bound by time or space as we are – is writing a larger story of deliverance and grace.

Within the next couple of weeks, we’ll start packing our Christmas boxes at Green Hills Community Church. I hope you’ll join us.

Pastor Charles

“Goodbye yellow brick road, where the dogs of society howl.”

I’m not a regular viewer of The Voice, but I certainly enjoy it when I tune in. Monday was one of those nights. Mara Justine, an incredibly gifted 21-year-old from Galloway, New Jersey, knocked my socks off with her amazing rendition of the classic hit. It didn’t take any longer than “When are you gonna come down? When are you going to land?” for John Legend and Gwen Stefani to turn their chairs, and within seconds all four chairs turned – as Mara’s overjoyed Italian parents celebrated in the background. (You Voice aficionados might like to know that John Legend became Mara’s coach.)

Music from our past tends to move us, as we remember words and phrases and unique sounds that we haven’t experienced in awhile. It’s quite powerful. And Monday night got me thinking … “I should have stayed on the farm; I should have listened to my old man” … What have been the “yellow brick roads” in my life? What paths have I tried that didn’t work out as I expected? What have I learned along the way? After all, this life very rarely allows for do-overs, so we better mine the chapters of our personal history for any gems of wisdom that we can find.

“You can’t plant me in your penthouse; I’m going back to my plough.” When Bernie Taupin penned those lyrics in 1973 – I remember the song like it was yesterday – I have no idea what regrets he was expressing. But it’s clear enough that whatever “Oz” we chase after leaves behind a distinctive emptiness. Such is the nature of so many of our pursuits. Fantastical but short-lived. Exquisitely alluring, but unable to deliver on their promises.

Idolatry is a perennial problem, you see. Many centuries ago, King Solomon – a man who, in the eyes of the world, had it all – reached a startling conclusion: “Vanity of vanities! All is vanity” (Ecclesiastes 1:2). Even all was not enough. This points us to a fatal flaw in our human condition. By nature – that is, by our unredeemed nature – you and I are perpetually spinning our wheels. We become experts at getting nowhere – and nowhere fast. And even when we get to the “somewhere” we thought we’d been looking for, it rarely satisfies. At least not for long.

But Jesus! He plants meaning where all was desert. He brings color to the dull and gray. He gives life where all hope had been lost. The way isn’t yellow, friends, but it is certain (John 14:6).

There’s only one cure for the likes of us. I think Saint Augustine (A.D. 354 – 430) really nailed it in his prayer: “You have made us for Yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in You.” As I remember Augustine’s words, I remember the earliest chapter of human history. The curse of Cain, for murdering his brother, was that he became a “restless wanderer,” and I suspect that all of us struggle with that spiritual restlessness more than we’d prefer to admit. You and I must lean on Christ for contentment, which often does not come to us without a serious battle somewhere in the core of our being.

I need a Savior who knows me better than I know myself. I need a Savior who understands my weaknesses, but who is without a single imperfection of His own. I need a Savior who will love me, at great cost to Himself, all the way to the finish line. I need the wonder – and wonder of wonders it is – of a blood-stained cross and an empty tomb!

“I’ve finally decided my future lies beyond the yellow brick road.”

Pastor Charles

Tuesday morning, David Booth led our men’s Bible study. We centered on Luke 5:1-11, where Jesus calls His first disciples. The fellowship around our table was fantastic, as always, and David began his lesson by recalling numerous childhood fishing trips with his dad. (I share this with David’s permission.) He described his father’s uncanny ability to catch fish after everybody else had caught none, given up, and gone home. David remembers many important details of those fishing expeditions, right down to the names of the best fishing lures, as we tend to do when life’s best insights have come our way.

As I surveyed my own mental images of fathers and sons fishing together, I fondly relived one of my most vivid childhood memories: my dad and I, off the Florida Gulf Coast, landed a 98-pound bull shark (yes, the maneater kind). That shark put up quite an extended fight, as you might expect, and you can imagine why the half-day experience was one that I will never forget.

Dads and sons fishing. It’s the stuff of great novels and movies. The scenes even don the covers of greeting cards. It’s more about the bonding than the sport, but the sport proves quite valuable in the transmission of some of life’s most critical lessons. All of us must come to appreciate the value of patience and perseverance, and learning to fish certainly provides some of the necessary hands-on experience.

Back to our Scripture passage, the crew of Simon Peter’s boat has fished all night, but has nothing to show for it. Prompted by Jesus to “put out into the deep,” the men’s nets become so full of fish that they’re on the verge of breaking. You’ve likely read of the miraculous catch.

Immediately recognizing that he is in the presence of the Lord of heaven and earth, Peter becomes so profoundly convicted that he begs Jesus to leave. We see in the text that James and John are similarly astonished. But Jesus gives a life-altering instruction, as well as a promise: “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.”

“From now on!” Surely that assignment is broad enough to encompass your life and mine. These are also our marching orders, friends. Are you and I willing to give our all to fishing for people who need the grace and truth of Christ? They’re lost, and they’re everywhere. And we have the words of eternal life. Will we heed our Savior’s call? Will we recognize the exciting possibilities of this unique moment in time? Right now counts forever. “They left everything and followed him.”

So don’t lose heart. Keep your line in the water, and keep your eyes wide open. Not every nibble will become a bite, but every bite begins with a nibble. As you share the gospel of Christ within your sphere of influence, know that One goes before you to prepare hearts and minds for the words (and the Word) that you have been called to bring. You never fish alone.

“Do not be afraid.” We cast. He smiles.

Pastor Charles

“I was only saying thank you.”

She’s only 19, but she’s setting quite an example for all of us. Perhaps your first memory of Coco Gauff is that of an eight-year-old girl smiling and dancing in the stands to Carly Rae Jepsen’s Call Me Maybe. That may be when Gauff first began to win hearts, at least among some in the world of tennis. (Now everyone wants to see the video clip.) I don’t want to make you feel old, but that was the 2012 U.S. Open. Time flies when you’re having fun, friends.

This year, Gauff looked up during her ten-game comeback in the third round and saw Justin Bieber. Here’s what she said later: “I was like, ‘I can’t lose in front of Justin Bieber!’ I didn’t lose a game after I saw him.”

Saturday, after Miss Gauff won the 2023 U.S. Open, she didn’t get up and dance. Instead, she dropped to her knees to pray. As the world was watching her there in the Arthur Ashe Stadium in Queens, some in the media described the moment without ever mentioning the obvious prayer. But not Coco. In an interview with Hoda Kotb, the tennis champion explained what was going on in the immediate aftermath of her impressive victory: “I was only saying thank you, and I understood all the tough times were just to make that moment even sweeter. I think if it came easy, I wouldn’t feel as appreciative as I did in that moment, clearly.”

“I was only saying thank you.”

It had not in fact been easy for Gauff to get to that moment. Even that very day, she had fumbled the opening set against second-ranked Aryna Sabalenka. Then, just like in our favorite movies, Coco emerged with a string of spitball returns that seemed to change everything. It was hard-fought on every level, but soon the trophy was hers. The stadium exploded in cheers! While Gauff was on the floor, everyone else was up and celebrating! Tennis players, celebrities, and even U.S. Presidents extended their congratulatory tributes to the young lady who had first exposed her talent as a 15-year-old defeating Venus Williams at Wimbledon. Coco had become the youngest American woman to win the U.S. Open since Serena Williams in 1999.

To one interviewer, Gauff described her September 1 comeback against Elise Mertens like this: “If anything, the three setters show everybody else that I’m not going down without a fight.” G.R.I.T. In my humble opinion, that’s what you call it. To another interviewer, she explained: “I don’t pray for results. I just ask that I get the strength to give it my all. Whatever happens, happens. I’m so blessed in this life. I’m just thankful for this moment. I don’t have any words for it, to be honest.”

Our Lord Jesus had something to say about a simple word of thanks. Ten lepers, who had stood at a distance because of their untouchable condition, were miraculously healed by Christ (Luke 17:11-19). But only one returned to give Him thanks. Jesus asked, “Where are the nine?” But to the grateful “foreigner” who took the time to express his heartfelt praise, Jesus spoke these amazing words of life: “Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well.” Thanks for reminding us, Coco. Thank you.

“I was only saying thank you.”

In her extended season of preparation for Saturday’s monumental achievement, Coco chose to largely ignore all the voices which sought to invade her headspace. She tuned out her critics as well as her fans. From her perspective, “This time around, I’ve been focusing more on myself and my expectations of myself and not going on social media or listening to people who believe that I can win or believe that I can’t.”

We can all learn from Miss Gauff. There’s only one voice that we most need to hear. One voice. Only one.

Listening with you,

Pastor Charles

What’s up with Hurricane Lee? This could be a nightmare!

Meteorologists are expecting Lee, still a Category 2 as of this blog posting, to become a Category 5 before making landfall. Like many other aspects of weather prediction, landfall on the U.S. mainland is still in question. But all the ingredients are in place for a major and dangerous hurricane. As the storm makes its way over the warmest waters of the Atlantic, Lee’s rapid intensification is widely expected. Somewhere, there will be perilous winds, tides, and rip currents.

It’s impossible to read the Gospel accounts without recognizing Christ’s power over the winds and the waters (Matthew 8:23-27). For that matter, there’s no way to deny His sovereignty over all of the conditions that are well beyond our grasp. I marvel every time I read the account of Peter and the shekel in the fish’s mouth (Matthew 17:24-27). God’s radar puts Doppler to shame. Our Lord is sovereign over every snowflake that falls (Job 38:22-30), and over every earthquake that rattles the planet (Psalm 68:7-8). And everything in between.

Hebrews 1:3 goes as far as this in its declaration of the absolute supremacy of our Lord Jesus Christ: [The Son of God and God the Son] upholds the universe by the word of his power! Apart from that, He’s not in control. Get my point? There is no “apart from that”! Sometimes we must boil down our theology to what Jesus said, simply (Matthew 24:6): “This must take place.” We don’t have to understand it, or like it. Some wars, and rumors of wars … and even hurricanes … must take place.

Perhaps we should marvel instead. Hurricane Lee is a vivid reminder that all Creation groans to be redeemed and renewed (Romans 8:18-23). A day is coming when a New Creation will dawn. It’s been promised to us by our gracious God, so that means that it’s as good as done. You and I are living in the “already but not yet,” and that’s not always easy, and that’s why we must live by faith. I’ll quote Os Guinness: “Human beings are finite and the world now fallen, and life will contain many mysteries opaque to the searcher … At times we see … through a keyhole partially … We always have sure and sufficient reasons for knowing why we can trust God, but do not always know what God is doing and why.” It’s a walk of faith to which we’ve been called in Christ.

Will we trust Him in the storm? Hurricane Lee points to an awesome Creator. God may use Lee for judgment, or for mercy, or for both. Lee will be Lee for a short time, but God will be God forever.

You and I must never forget. We must never forget the ultimate goodness of our God. While some hard things are bound to come our way, Paradise is on our horizon. Paradise, friends.

God is our refuge and strength. So, fair weather or foul, may we sing with the psalmist (46:1-3): “Let the oceans roar!”

Pastor Charles