Where God Hangs Out

Oh, the places God goes to.  You should see some of the places where God hangs out.

I’ve seen him on street corners and dark allies

I’ve seen him down in the gutter with drunks and addicts

I’ve seen him in brothels

I’ve even seen him in church with the sleeping saints

God hangs where mankind needs him most. 

He hangs with those who need him so desperately

~He hangs out in stables, and with smelly shepherds and barn yard animals.

~He rides camels with the wise ones

~He sleeps in boats that are whipped about by the winds and waves

~He walks the halls of the cancer ward

~He moves in and out of the new born wings and lightly touches each precious newborn

And he hangs with the despondent, the discouraged, the despairing, and the depressed.

~He hangs with the one who is just about at the end of their rope

~God hangs out wherever humanity needs him the most.  He simply wants an invitation.  He knocks and asks to be let in. 

All we need do is fling open the door and let Him in.

LET HIM IN.

P Michael Biggs

Offering Hope

Encouragement Inspiration

One Word at a Time

From Nobody to Somebody

When you feel like a ‘nobody’, remember this – God knows your name and where you are. 

Everybody has had those moments at one time or another – you know the feeling.  We question everything about ourselves – our self-worth, our sense of belonging.  We wonder if we even have some very basic skills that might be useful someday.  We even question our own validity. 

Take a look at some rather less-than-sterling individuals whom God chose to use.

He used a man named Zacchaeus, a corrupt IRS agent of the day.  Zacchaeus’ life was so turned around that he pledged to give back four times the amount he had stolen from his clients, and he also was willing to give one-half of all his possessions to feed the poor.

~Luke 19: 1-10

He used Rahab, a prostitute, to hide his chosen men for a season until His work could be established. 

~Joshua 2

He used Saul, later named Paul, to become one of the major founders of the Christian faith.  Saul was a persecutor of Christians until one day he had an encounter with the Christ.  He changed his ways instantly and turned from a persecutor to a proclaimer of the Gospel and the way of salvation.

~Acts 9

And don’t forget David.  David was a handsome young man who caught God’s eye even from early youth.  He had a rather circuitous route to becoming the man who played a dominant role in Israel’s history books. 

He slew a giant.

He became King.

He had an affair with Bathsheba.

He had her husband killed.

He repented.

He ruled and became a legend.

~I Samuel Chapters 16 & 17

In his early days, Billy Graham wasn’t BILLY GRAHAM.  He started small.  He had small crowds and smaller offerings to support his ministry in the early days.  And he was faithful to the call of God. 

Have you ever wondered who influenced Billy Graham?  I don’t know, and you probably don’t either, but someone did.  Some person somewhere was an instrumental figure in his life to help Billy make the connection between his gifts and God’s call.  God used that nameless person.

Who does God use?  He uses the likes of you and me.  He uses simple, mundane elements like loaves and two fish that a young boy offered on a hillside in Galilee one day.  And with that meager amount of food Christ fed 5,000 men, not counting the women and children. 

He used a whale once to provide refuge for a runaway prophet named Jonah. 

He has used songwriters, living and dead, to change lives, and help redeem those on a less-than-righteous path. 

He uses writers of books, movie scripts, and blogs and magazine articles to accomplish His work. 

He even uses the non-spiritual to do His bidding.  He used the movie Patch Adams in my life to help me discover my calling and put it into better focus.

If God can use these individuals, and a great host like them, and these elements like bread, fish, books, movies and such, don’t you think He can use you and me? 

I wrote the following blog post in 2012 and it is still appropriate for today’s thoughts.

~~~~~

I’m not much, but I am somebody. 

I like to write books and blogs.  I’m not Thoreau or Twain, Robert Frost or Edgar Allen Poe, but I am somebody. 

I’ve sung a solo or two in my lifetime.  I’m not a Pavarotti or Andre Bocelli.  No, not at all.  You see, I’ve sung a few flat notes in my lifetime.  But I am somebody.

I’ve done a good bit of public speaking in my life.  I’m no Billy Graham, and sometimes I’ve flubbed my speeches, but I am somebody.

I’ve directed a few choirs and orchestras in my years of living.  I’m not in the league of Leonard Bernstein.  I’ve dropped a few batons as a conductor. But I am somebody.

I am a drummer.  I’m not famous like Gene Krupa or Buddy Rich.  At least twice in my drumming life, I’ve dropped my drum sticks at crucial moments in a performance.  But I am somebody.

On most days, when you look at me, you wouldn’t see much.  I’m not the most handsome guy in the room; and I’m not the slimmest.

You see, God emblazons each of us with the gift of his signature on our lives.  He puts within us a stamp of his image.  It is as much a part of who we are as is our DNA. 

If you are like me, you’re no work of art either.  You struggle with life just like all normal people.  But you and I are somebody just because we have the signature of God on our lives.  We have his stamp.  The Bible says we are made in the image of God. 

You and I, and the homeless man pushing a loaded-down shopping cart over there – we are all made in the image of God.

So, though we may not be prized by many people in this world, we are prized by God.

He has stamped our lives with his unique signature. 

“Not much of a prize” you say.

“Nothing to see here” we muse?

Maybe … But when I see you I see the hand of God at work.  I see potential.  I see a future with hope.

I see somebody worthy of the love of God.

Please take 4:33 and watch this great video clip.  It is a perfect cap to everything I’ve shared above.

God Uses Ordinary People - Dannibelle Hall

Thanks be to God!

P Michael Biggs

Offering Hope

Encouragement Inspiration

One Word at a Time

What Will Your Verse Be?

It is amazing to me to consider all of the ways that I hear God speak.  Having grown up in a rigid church tradition, one would think we can only hear God in sermons on Sunday and from books and other materials produced only from a “church” printing press.

To think that I could hear God through Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata, or have a spiritual moment in Leavenworth, WA in the middle of a spectacularly lit Christmas display while holding my wife’s hand – well, that would have been beyond belief thirty years ago in my understand of God and how he works.

I see God in so many ways and in so many places, you might think of me as a “worldly Christian writer” should I begin to list such times and places and experiences. 

And yet, that is my point. 

Let me continue with this thought, based on Walt Whitman’s poem.  The first part of this quote is taken from the movie Dead Poets Society starring Robin Williams.

We don’t read and write poetry because it’s cute.  We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race.  And the human race is filled with passion.  And medicine, law, business, engineering; these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life.  But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for. 

And then he quotes from Whitman:

O me! O life!

Of the questions of these recurring;

of the endless trains of the faithless,

of cities filled with the foolish;

what good amid these, O me, O life?

Answer: that you are here

that life exists and identity,

that the powerful play goes on

and you may contribute a verse.

Oh yes. That last line cinches it for me.

“… and you may contribute a verse”

And God expects your verse from you. And if you pass on without making your contribution to this world, what a sad hole you may have left.

In whatever state your life may be, YOU have a verse to write, a contribution to make to me and to my life; to your kin’s lives; to your neighbors and friends.

It matters not what your life looks like now. It matters not the condition in which you find yourself at this particular moment. There is still time to add to your verse.

Are you living an addicted lifestyle?

Are you once, twice or three times divorced?

Are you bankrupt?

Have you just won the lottery?

Are you bald?

Do you have hair on your knuckles?

Does your arthritis bother you at night?

You still have a verse to contribute. Yes, even YOU!

Read this passage slowly, pausing occasionally to think about the words.


1. O Lord, you have searched me and known me.
2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
you discern my thoughts from far away.

3 You search out my path and my lying down,
and are acquainted with all my ways.

4 Even before a word is on my tongue,
O Lord, you know it completely.
5 You hem me in, behind and before,
and lay your hand upon me.

6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
it is so high that I cannot attain it.

7 Where can I go from your spirit?
Or where can I flee from your presence?

8 If I ascend to heaven, you are there;
if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.

9 If I take the wings of the morning
and settle at the farthest limits of the sea,
10 even there your hand shall lead me,
and your right hand shall hold me fast.

11 If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,
and the light around me become night,”
12 even the darkness is not dark to you;
the night is as bright as the day,
for darkness is as light to you.

13 For it was you who formed my inward parts;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works;
that I know very well.

15 My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth.

16 Your eyes beheld my unformed substance.
In your book were written
all the days that were formed for me,
when none of them as yet existed.

17 How weighty to me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
18 I try to count them—they are more than the sand;

~Psalm 139: 1-18

This scripture tells me that God had a plan for you from the beginning. He put a verse inside of you expecting you and me to sound it out, live it out and proclaim our verses to the world.

May we do that very thing starting right now.

God is with you. Take the first step toward Him and He immediately meets you right where you are.

I will be praying for you.


P Michael Biggs
Offering Hope
Encouragement Inspiration
One Word at a Time

When the Cheese Falls off the Cracker

I love a nice slice of cheese.  Grill it between two pieces of bread and that is just about the best grilled cheese sandwich one could ever want. 

UNTIL …

… Until the cheese slides off.  And then it is the end of the world, or so I think.

Has your cheese ever fallen off the cracker?  There are hundreds of ways this can happen.  Just to name a few:

-A man in his 80’s who can’t move and think as he did 20 years ago

-A singer who can no longer hit the high C’s or low D’s

-A 19-year-old who showed tremendous early abilities and now her peers have caught up

-A 54-year-old woman recently diagnosed with breast cancer

-A 59-year-old man recently fired because “they need fresh ideas”

-A 30-something woman facing a divorce  that wasn't supposed to happen

-A 55-year old woman, even a 75-year old woman whose husband died of a heart attack

-You commit the unthinkable, the unforgivable and the unmentionable

What dismal pictures these words paint.  We never want to see our cheese slide off the cracker, do we?

And yet it happens. 

Sometimes the cheese just slips.  

It crashes to the ground.

If you've ever faced failure, loss, sin, disappointment, struggles, and shattered dreams, keep reading. 

When the cheese falls off the cracker, remember this:

~God still loves~

~God still knows where you are

~He has your address memorized~

~You are welcome at any time to knock on His door

~He will leave the light on for you

Let’s hear some encouraging words from The WORD of God.

Matthew 11:28

“Come all of you who are tire and carry heavy loads, even those of you whose cheese has slipped off your cracker. (I got carried away there, but it fits, doesn’t it?)  I will give you rest (and another, fresher slice of cheese).  You will find me to be gentle and humble in spirit and I’ll give you rest in your life.  I’ll replace your heavy load with a lighter load.  (Paraphrased PMB)

John 16:33

In this world you will have problems and troubles, but hang on.  Be brave.  I have already defeated the world.”

Philippians 4:6-7

Don’t worry about anything.  Just pray and ask me (God) for everything.  Remember to give thanks.  In return I will give you amazing peace.  It will so great that you will never understand it, and it will help keep your mind on me.  (God/Christ Jesus).

Psalm 55:22

Cast every burden you have upon God.  He will sustain you.  He will never suffer the good and just person to be displaced.”

Psalm 23:4

“Yes, even when I walk near death, I will not fear anything, for you God are with me.  Your defensive weapons surround me and comfort me.”

Remember this …

He saw the cheese fall. 

     He sees what you need now. 

          And He is still God.

May you find great comfort in this thought today.

P Michael Biggs

Internet Church

Offering Hope

Encouragement Inspiration

One Word at a Time

Hope after Heartbreak

When the devastation of life knocks us down, where do we turn for help in getting back up?

When heartbreak knocks on our door, where do we find our footing for the next steps that must be taken?

I knew a man in Texas who had to endure a serious drug relapse with his wife.  Those were dark and desperate days, yet he found hope in the scriptures and came out on solid ground on the other side.  One of the verses he found was in Jeremiah.

“With certainty I have great plans for you; plans for goodness and not for harm, for I want you to enjoy a future with hope.” (PMB Paraphrase)  Jeremiah 29:11

In Tennessee there is a friend who faced financial setbacks so severely that he was forced into bankruptcy.  Again, hope was found in the scriptures.

"If I can clothe the flowers in the fields, and I can notice when a sparrow falls to the ground, don’t you think I can also take care of you?  Don’t worry.  If I can take care of the flowers and sparrows, I can certainly take care of you as well.”  (PMB Paraphrase)  Matthew 6:25-34

Do you need more assurance?  Note this.

In the Bible, John 16:33  Christ is speaking.

“In this world troubles will come along.  But have hope.  I have overcome the world.” (PMB paraphrase)

We can’t stop bad things from knocking on our door; however, we can be assured of the peace and presence of God almighty in the middle of the madness. 

Does that give you hope?  It surely does that for me. 

Psalm 147:11 talks about God delighting in those of us who place our hope in his unfailing love. 

A hope in His never failing love

I can get that concept. 

I have faced some desperate times, and every time, in the middle of my desperation, I've found the kind of hope of which we speak. 

I have found it again and again in the Word of God.

Thank God there is great hope after life’s heartbreaks.

Please watch this

 - He's Been Faithful - 

Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir

My Prayer for You

God:

We are learning.  We are learning to rely on you, to rely on your faithfulness, and to rely on the peace and hope you give us in the middle of our messes. 

You bring peace.

You bring power.

You bring stability.

You bring hope.

What a mighty God you are.

With all that is within me, I say Thanks. 

Thank you Lord for what you have done and for what you will continue to do.

P Michael Biggs

Offering Hope

Encouragement Inspiration

One Word at a Time

Forget Your Perfect Self

I hate perfect, probably because I am so full of imperfect.  Is anything in life perfect?  Is anyone perfect? 

On my best days I still miss “perfect” by a mile.  Can you relate? 

Is your life perfect?

Are you perfect? 

Perfect means – well put together, no room for mistakes, no room for improvement. 

Ah, that is an interesting thought – no room for improvement.

The search for perfect abounds. 

Products promise to make us perfect.

  Schooling promises to make us perfect.

    Seminars promise this.

      Training courses promise perfection to the hilt.

Perfect!

               Perfect!

                              Perfect!

This idea had to grow on me.  See what it does for you.

Ring the bells that still can ring

Forget your perfect offering

There is a crack in everything

That’s how the light gets in

~Leonard Cohen

Instead of being perfect and having all of the answers, I seem to be in constant search for more light.  I say – “Let the light get in.”

I've known a few “perfect” followers of God in my lifetime.  They made me sick.  If you want to know everything wrong with you, hang around someone like that for a day or two.  They will set you straight, believe you me. 

Today, a more liberal view works just fine.  The cry for some is this … “More light.  We need more light in here.”

Let the light shine in. 

Here is a scripture to consider.

2 Corinthians 12:9

Paul, a follower of Christ, prayed three times for a certain infliction (of unknown origin) to be removed from his life.  And the answer came back loud and clear.

“No, but I (God) will be with you.  That is all you need to know.  My power shows up best in weak people.”

Now there is a picture of an imperfect man.  He had a problem.  He prayed for its removal.  He was denied and told he was still useful anyway. 

There is amazing hope for those of us who are still imperfect. 

That is worth a shout out – to God. 

Some say ‘Hallelujah’.

Some say ‘Praise the Lord’.

Some, like me, just grin.  We just grin and smile, and inwardly we’re saying something like:  “This is amazing.  You love me, warts and all, and you say you’re going to use those warts, imperfect as they are?”

Amazing! 

Thank you Paul, for being vulnerable in the middle of your misery.  You give us great hope.

And look how the light shined through Paul’s life.  He is credited with being one of the great proclaimers of the faith and gospel of Jesus Christ.  Fourteen of the twenty-seven books in the New Testament are credited to Paul as the author.  Talk about letting the light in through the cracks.  That is amazing.

On the days when you are feeling all cracked up, perhaps those are the days when God is letting the light really flow through you.  Just be okay with being imperfect enough that God finds us useful.

I do.

P Michael Biggs

Offering Hope

Encouragement Inspiration

One Word at a Time

Identity

In a world that wants to constantly tweak us, make us better, more beautiful, slimmer, stronger, and more-more-more, where do we find ourselves? 

I have a few thoughts on this subject – stay tuned.

I found this poem from the 1950’s by a Rev. Borders, and have abridged it for our purposes today.

I Am Somebody

I may be poor

  I may be young

    I may be on welfare

      But I am somebody

I may be small

  I may make a mistake

    My clothes may be different

      But I am somebody

My face may be different

  My hair may be different

    I may be black, brown, or white

      I may speak a different language

        But I am somebody

I want to be respected, protected

                                                        Never rejected

I am God’s child

I am Somebody

Rev. William H. Borders,

The search for one’s identity is a worthy search.  We seek it in careers, in houses, in money, in bars, and in relationships.

But at the core of it all, who we are and what we feel about ourselves matters hugely.

Psychologists tell us that our self image is one of those critical ingredients toward becoming a whole and complete person.  And self-image comes largely from understanding who and what we are all about.

We would do ourselves a disservice if we stopped there and left out the God factor when it comes to establishing our identity.

Let me remind us of some thoughts God has toward us. 

Psalm 139

"We are fearfully and wonderfully made."

These verses remind us that we are created by God, even in the womb.  He began mapping out our lives even then.  Talk about an identity with a destiny – that is evident here.

Isaiah 43:1

"I have called you by name; you are mine."

When we know someone well we call them by name.  We identify them with the name intimates know them by.  God calls each of us by name.  He knows our identity.  We’re not a nobody in God’s sight.

Jeremiah 29:11 

"I know the plans I have for you."

There is a plan in place with your name on it.  That means God has identified you as a person of worth and He has you in mind for a future with hope.  Talk about an identity – your identity has a future. 

We can readily see by these scriptures that we are thought about, planned for and wanted in God’s sight.  He knows us, He calls to us, He plans for us, and He wants us to be a part of his plan.  We are on God’s team, and He knows each of us by name.

Come to the one who knows you so well, loves you so much, welcomes you with open arms, and has already worked out a road-map for your life. 

Talk about an identity – your life is ordered – and it is all good.  God doesn't make mistakes and he doesn't lead us without equipping us.

What is your identity?

You are a child of God – not a slave, not a servant, and not a distant cousin.

You are SOMEBODY!

Perhaps it’s time to give God some words of thanks for who you are and what He has already placed inside you.

He’s listening.  Just use your own words.

Pastor Mike

P Michael Biggs

Offering Hope

Encouragement Inspiration

One Word at a Time

A Lump of Clay

I want to talk about molding, shaping, and forming.  That is what happens to a lump of clay on the potter’s wheel. 

I tried my hand once at creating a vase on a potter’s wheel.  Needless to say it was not a pretty sight.  The craftsman made it look easy, and yet my efforts were spastic at best. 

Kind of like my life when I do too much of what I want and leave God out of my situations.  I believe God has plans and designs for my life and for yours. I think He has a good idea of how and where our lives should take us for best results.  I don’t know about you but I have overridden Him a time or two, or thirty. 

Consider this:

He has made everything beautiful in its time.

Ecclesiastes 3:11

… And that means you and me. 

In another place in the Bible we are reminded of this:

For you created my inmost being;

you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

Psalm 39:13

He is the master craftsman.  He is the steady hand on the potter’s wheel.  Always, always in retrospect, I can look backwards and see how his hand guided me in a particular situation, and how I am now using, learning from, or growing in better ways all because I dared to let him be the Master Potter and I became a mold-able lump of clay.

I like being in the Potter’s hands. 

He reveals his plans to us through what we are naturally drawn to.

-Some can teach

-Others have administrative abilities.
-Master craftsmen and women abound
-Others love to serve and offer their hands in good and meaningful work

I love to write and encourage mankind.  I just learned a new phrase to describe what I do best:  “I give thirsty people a drink of water.”

I love that.

What are you inclinations?

What makes your heart beat faster?

What might the Potter be saying to you?

Now watch this ... Potter's Hand by Hillsong

May I pray for you?  

God in heaven:

I know you are the one who molds and forms and orders my life.  I want to trust you with more of my life and my destiny.   Will you  become the full-time Potter in my life, molding and shaping me for good things that you have in mind for me?

Thank you God.

Amen!

P Michael Biggs

www.up-words.net

Offering Hope

Encouragement Inspiration

One Word at a Tim