Last night I sat in a major college football stadium and watched my son play his first big-time high school game in front of thousands of fans.  As any proud father would be, I was bursting with pride and excitement.  I looked around at the setting, the crowd, and the excitement in the air and I felt so very much. I was filled with the expected emotions of the moment- pride and love- but I also felt other, less anticipated feelings.  I felt blessed.  I felt alive. I felt nostalgic.

My wife and I had arrived in different cars, so after the game I found myself driving home alone.  I plugged in my iphone and set it to shuffle.  The second song that came up was “100 years to live,” by Five for Fighting.  The words struck me.  They were what I was feeling so intently.  I’m only forty-something for a moment.  My boy is only 15 for a moment.  He is only home for a moment.  It all seems so precious, so very sublime, when you’ve “only got 100 years to live!”

The experience of last night was awesome, but it is over.  I hope I truly soaked it in.  It makes me realize that I don’t soak the moments in enough.  I stress about too many fleeting things.  The good stuff only lasts for a moment!!!

Lord, help me to soak it all in for the moments I have left!

Here is a short poem from my book of spiritual poems entitled, “Reflections on What Matters.”  I hope you enjoy it.

Like Today Was My Last

What will I do tomorrow?

Where will my journey lead?

I worry, I plan, I wring my hands,

And rush through my days with great speed.

I take for granted the rising sun,

I assume the calendar will advance.

“It always has,” I say to myself,

“I’ve put nothing to chance.”

But how certain is my tomorrow?

What guarantee have I of another day?

How many thought they’d see another sunrise?

To only have it taken away?

The truth is I do not know,

What the next moment has in store.

I could live another eighty years,

Or die as I walk through my front door.

It all brings the scripture into perspective,

“Your life is a vapor that vanishes away.”

How fragile is each breath that I take?

Could this be my life’s final day?

Therefore I must change the way that I live,

Priorities different than in the past.

Help me Jesus as I schedule my life,

To live like today was my last!

For this week’s blog I have taken an excerpt from my book “A War to Be Won: A Study in Spiritual Warfare” concerning the nature of Satan and what the world has tried to make him into:

Hollywood has tried to pacify the Devil with cartoon images and ridiculous Halloween costumes.  They make him out to be a tiny, red dwarf perched upon our shoulder who tempts us in opposition to his angelic counterpart speaking into our other ear.  If only he were that benign, we would simply flick him off and march on in bliss to eternity. But the Bible describes Satan in far more menacing terms.  Never in scripture is the Devil portrayed as someone to be mocked or trifled with.  In fact, even the angels are cautious when it comes to him.

Yet Michael the archangel, in contending with the devil, when he disputed about the body of Moses, dared not bring against him a reviling accusation, but said, “The Lord rebuke you!”

Who is he?  Why does he do the things he does?  Why does he hate us so?  These questions are often left unanswered.  The prince of evil is generally shrouded in mystery, so that we envision him as an impersonal “evil force,” rather than an individual being.  Like in Star Wars, we think of him as “the dark side of the force,” being the opposite manifestation of God’s supreme goodness.  This perspective inadvertently makes him the equal-opposite of God, putting him on the same place as the creator.

However, the Bible paints a very different portrait of Satan.  It seems to strongly hint at who and what he is, which helps us to better understand what he does and why…

The book just came out on Kindle.  It can be found on Amazon.com at:

– Kerry

As I reflect upon goals, accomplishments, and overcoming hardships, I am reminded of the things on my heart in 2004 as I penned this little poem.  I hope you enjoy it.

You Can!

I try so hard at everything

I give every effort my best shot.

But no matter how I try to do it all right,

In the end I always cannot.

I work to get more and more done,

To work like a fine tuned robot.

Yet, something always falls through the cracks

In the end I always cannot.

I endeavor to be a better friend,

To care for my buddies allot.

Alas I forget to call, I forget to write!

In the end I always cannot.

I long to be the perfect husband to my wife,

The sweetest friend in this world that she’s got.

However, in moments of stress I still yell and scream,

In the end I always cannot.

O how I yearn as a father to be more,

To give my everything to that sweet little tot.

Yet selfishness still exists in my life,

In the end I always cannot.

My heart so wants to rid my life of sin,

To present myself to Christ without spot.

But in weakness I still fall and stumble,

In the end I always cannot.

I feel so very powerless in every area of my life,

Oh I am such a weak, weak man!

Yet I hope still, because of Your promises,

For though I cannot- You Can!

– Kerry Williams

Very rare is the person who enjoys confrontation.  Most of us simply do our best to avoid it at all costs.  We go out of our way to keep cordial relations and only confront when someone pushes us too far or “backs us in a corner.”  We get all worked up and angry, then suddenly confrontation isn’t that hard.  In fact, when we’re mad it’s rather easy.

We use our anger as a courage battery.  It serves to give us boldness we would not normally have and makes it so much easier to stand up for ourselves.  The problem is that, under the influence of anger, we lose control of the confrontation.  Invariably we say or do something we regret and escalate the problem further.  How many angry words do men wish they could take back?

The real challenge is to be able to engage in confrontation and not let anger have its way.  Jesus was angry, even to the point that He drove men from the temple with whips, but yet He did not sin.  We may feel angry, but we should never allow that emotion to determine our actions.

If you look closely at the anger of Jesus, you’ll notice that His anger was always in defense of God (the temple) or of others (toward the Pharisees).  When he was personally attacked, He kept His cool.  Perhaps this is how we gain control of our anger- to do as He did, and let the personal attacks roll away with forgiveness.  Therefore, next time we are tempted to “lose our cool,” let us ask why we are angry.  If the reason has to do with our own pride or feelings, let us model the words of Jesus at the moment He suffered the greatest offense of all- “Father… forgive them.”

In 1492 Christopher Columbus discovered what came to be known as, “The New World,” when he sighted land off the islands now called the Bahamas.  However significant this was to the outcome of world history, it wasn’t what Columbus was expecting or hoping for.  His intent had been to sail directly across the Atlantic Ocean to Japan, so that Spain could beat Portugal in the race toward the “East Indies.”  What he found instead was an entire hemisphere encompassing two continents, and a place in history as the man who discovered a new world!

Although most of us will not be remembered by history for the journeys we take, we have all encountered unexpected things along the way.  The tragedy is when we cannot enjoy the unexpected blessings of today because of our intense striving for tomorrow.  In all, Columbus made three more trips trying to find a route to Japan.  The wondrous riches he had discovered just weren’t enough; He couldn’t enjoy what he had found because he had not yet achieved what he had set out to do!

Whatever goals one may have in his life: career, riches, fame- they’re not worth ignoring all the beautiful “stuff” along the way.  As one wise man said, “The best part of a journey is not the destination, but the journey itself.”  Others have encouraged us to, “stop and smell the roses.”  In short, we must be a people who are constantly on the lookout for blessings to appreciate, for if we are too caught up in reaching our goals, we might miss some very special things along the way!

This is a short poem I wrote several years ago.  It reflects upon the conflict between searching after the things that I want vs. seeking the things of God.  I hope you are blessed by it.

Discerning Your Desires

“What do I want?”

Such questions consume my mind.

It’s the determining factor in every decision,

It always chooses the path I will find.

But how does one decide,

How do I ever discern?

When there are so many earthly possessions,

For which my flesh does yearn.

I want to feel a certain way,

I want to do a certain thing.

I want to get the just rewards,

My accomplishments should bring!

Even in my life of faith,

My wants cannot be suppressed,

“Surely the thing which makes me feel right,

Is what the Lord would think is best!”

Yet all the self-indulgence,

Still leaves a deep emptiness.

I get all that I want, I have my way,

Yet I never quite feel at rest!

The answer comes to me so simply, O’ God,

For of self-indulgence my soul quickly tires.

The path which will fulfill me in all things in life,

Is by discerning not mine, but Your desires!

Kerry Williams, 2004

With all of the discouraging news that has plagued Bible-believers over the last few days, I thought it might be good to remember the wonderful things we still have in this nation:

We still have families, friends, and pets to love.

We still have houses in which to live and church buildings in which to worship.

And we still have PIZZA… and lets face it… we are all in love with PIZZA!

We still have the internet and the freedom to read and post whatever we choose.

We still have our financial resources and can still spend our money on what matters most to us.

And we still have Air Conditioners… in Arkansas this fact makes us VERY BLESSED!

We still have the freedom to quit our jobs and find a new one anytime we choose.

We still have the freedom to move to a different state or travel without papers or approval.

And yes, in the words our our secular culture, we still have the freedom to “love who we choose”… I CHOOSE TO LOVE JESUS!

…

…

… I guess we still have quite a lot.

Kerry

“For everything there is a season and a time for every purpose under heaven.”  These are the words of Solomon in Ecclesiastes 3 that have been immortalized in poetry and song.  But, oh how true they are!  Life is indeed a journey that is seldom traveled on the “flats,” but rather traversed up and down continuing hills and valleys.

The problem lies when we are at the very bottom of one of those wretched ravines and looking up at the next hill to climb.  We are tired of the spiritual low.  Our repentant hearts want to start the climb toward spiritual awakening and productivity.  The problem is inertia.  It just takes SO MUCH ENERGY!

Spiritual lows drain us.  They leave us emotionally exhausted, and the easy thing to do is just STAY there.  This was true of all great men and women.  Moses was tempted to stay with his sheep in the wilderness, and Elijah was tempted to sit down and keep sleeping in the cave.  But God urged them to climb.  He called them forth from the crevice of spiritual decline and pushed them forward.

Perhaps today is the day you need to start climbing again?  Could God be calling you from the valley?

CLIMB!!!

My precious wife is terrified of elevators.  The fear is so all consuming that she avoids them at all cost, even if it means climbing ten flights of stairs.  I am excessively afraid of sharks, to the point that I stay on the sand while my family enjoys the ocean surf.  Both of our fears are silly, and we know it.  In fact, we often tell ourselves how crazy our phobias are in an attempt to conquer them.  But all of the statistics, reasoning, and pep talks result in the same thing- we are still afraid!

Human beings exist in a world of fears.  Everyone is terrified of something.  Fear causes us to buy insurance, lock our doors, put on our life jackets, and fasten our seat belts.  Fear controls us.  It becomes our master.  Yet, we are told that, “God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of POWER…” (2 Timothy 1:7, NKJV).  According to the Bible, our Father is the antidote for fear!

How then do I apply this divine medicine?  We can certainly study and pray, but will simply having the knowledge be enough?  No, We have to take a leap of faith and FACE OUR FEARS!  Therefore, next time I’m on the beach, I will strive to remember God’s promise, strap on my fins and goggles, and dive in.  He can indeed help me face my fears, even if my knees are shaking the whole time!

Kerry

“I sought the Lord and He heard me, And delivered me from all my fears”  Psalm 34:4

“Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.”  Psalms 119:105 (NKJV)

We have all stumbled around in the middle of the night, our hands waving back and forth before us, trying to find the bathroom or kitchen.  The result is often a sore toe due to an unyielding couch or doorframe.  What is amazing is that we walk those halls of our homes every day, and we know every step, yet we still can’t find our way in the dark.  We feel uncomfortable, even vulnerable, and we second guess ourselves about things we already know to be true.  That’s what darkness does – it shrouds mankind in uncertainty and doubt, and leaves us stumbling through life.

This is why Christ’s words in John 8:12 are so very significant.  When He says, “I am the light of the world,” Jesus is promising that His truth will illuminate the darkness and provide us with confidence as we walk life’s road.  As light cuts through the darkness and bathes the world with illuminating hope, so our Lord has cut through the cloud of sin an shown us a path we can walk in absolute certainty.

Yet light is used in two other ways in scripture.  The Psalmist calls God’s Word “light,” and Jesus, in Matthew 5:14, said that WE are the light of the world.  Therefore we see that Christ can only show blinded men the way through the darkness if we choose to shine for Him and point people to His illuminating Word.

Kerry