Update on My Dad

Thanks to all of you for your thoughts and prayers for my 95 year old father. Surprisingly, he is doing much better. Two days ago, the doctors did not have much hope for him. Within 24 hours he was responding to us again, talking and understanding us, eating well, and even feeding himself! He is an amazing man with an amazing constitution. He is still in the skilled care facility and will be for at least several more weeks, if not permanently. It is our hope that, though your prayers, and the physical rehab, he will be able to come home again in the future. If there are any changes in his condition, I'll post an update. Again, thanks so much for your prayers. I guess God is not finished with him here on earth! Please click on the word “comments” below or send me an email at curtis.songer@gmail.com

Well-Driven Nails (Part Two)

It is good that you grasp one thing and also not let go of the other; for the one who fears God comes forth with both of them. Ecclesiastes 7:18 When I was a young lad growing up, it seemed as though the preacher in my church would frequently speak on hellfire and brimstone. He preached about the almighty God who was just and righteous in His judgments. As a boy I learned to have a reverential awe of the One who held my destiny in the palm of His hand. We rarely hear sermons today about the fear of God. Reverential awe has been largely replaced with much softer, sweeter emotions. We’ve traded the "fear" of God for the love of God, not realizing we need both of them to keep us balanced and secure. Nail Number Two: Fear God - have a reverential awe for Him. Believers in past centuries talked about living “in the presence” of God or living “before the eyes” of God. Keeping their view of Him high and majestic drove them to change their world, because they knew that the Lord God almighty was watching. And they never forgot it. Living for God is not about kicking back and seeking ease. It is serious business. Rather than seeing the promises of God as ways to increase our checking account balances and meet our own needs, the Bible calls us to “cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God” (2 Corinthians 7:1). It’s not about entertainment and feeling good. It’s about seeing Him for who He is and seeing ourselves accountable to Him on a moment-by-moment basis. Real life is being accountable to Him by being accountable to others who share our pursuit of reverent, holy living. Please click on the word “comments” below or send me an email at curtis.songer@gmail.com

Well-Driven Nails (Part One)

The words of wise men are like goads, and masters of these collections are like well-driven nails. Ecclesiastes 12:11 Wisdom, which I define as skill in everyday living, is one of the greatest needs of every generation. And the writer of Ecclesiastes 12 shares about the words of a wise man being like “well-driven nails” - words that bring perspective, security and life. Over the next three blogs I’d like to describe three well-driven nails. Nail Number One: Remember God. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, the Nobel Prize-winning author and Russian dissident during the Soviet era, said, “I have spent fifty years working on the history of the Russian Revolution. In the process, I have collected hundreds of personal testimonies, read hundreds of books and contributed eight volumes of my own. But if I were asked today to formulate as concisely as possible the main cause of the ruinous revolution that swallowed up some 60 million of our people, I could not put it more accurately than to repeat: Men have forgotten God.” These powerful words confirm that when people fail to remember God and do not recognize His presence and authority in their lives, anything goes. They develop spiritual amnesia and are unable to remember what God has done to show Himself faithful and true, not only in their own lives, but also throughout human history. When we forget God, we forget to trust Him. If you want to drive this nail home, I would encourage you to consider three things: First, learn how to truly worship God. Second, get to know Him by spending time reading the Bible. And third, create a list together of spiritual milestones - divine acts that exemplify something significant He has done in your life or family. When we rehearse what God has done, we not only remember Him, but we also are more likely to trust Him for what we are facing today. Remember your Creator. Please click on the word “comments” below or send me an email at curtis.songer@gmail.com

Prayer Request

I don't normally put prayer requests on my blog, but since it is such a great way to get the word out.... Please pray for my dad, Curtis H. Songer. He is 95 years old and may be in his final days here on earth. He is a believer, and so our prayers are simply that he would be comfortable as he passes into eternity.

All You Really Need

And those who know Your name will put their trust in You, for You, Lord, have not forsaken those who seek You. Psalm 9:10 NASB At the very moment Darnly Motter was giving birth to her third child in the delivery room, her husband, Larry, was one floor below having a blood clot removed from his brain. These are the kind of paradoxes that entered the Motters’ world the day their car crashed on a lonely stretch of South Dakota highway, leaving Larry in a coma with severe brain damage. When he returned to consciousness, he was partially paralyzed and his short-term memory was gone. For all intents and purposes, he was another baby in the Motter household. There were people who advised Darnly to find Larry a comfortable place to live - to set him up in a nursing home - so that she could get on with life. But Darnly knew she couldn’t do that. Making a home with Larry - even the new Larry he had become - was part of keeping her wedding vows, she believed. Over the years, she has often cried herself to sleep at night, and she has occasionally succumbed to the heavy undertow of depression. Her lonely walk as the only “adult” in her marriage has left her feeling maddeningly desperate. But when times get the murkiest, she remembers, “I don’t need answers; I just need God.” That, my friend, is a faith statement - something that people who walk by feelings can’t say, because it demands that they know and trust God enough to be able to handle the challenges He often allows into life. Faith like this brings freedom and peace, even in the midst of the storms of life, known only by those who choose to set their dial and choose to live by the trusted timeless truths of Scriptures. When life isn’t fair, God is still there - to make sure you have everything you need to hang in there yourself. Please comment below or send me an email at curtis.songer@gmail.com

Two Great Movies

Two of the greatest movies I have seen lately are "7 Days in Utopia" and just yesterday, "Courageous". Go see them soon before they leave the theaters - they're awesome! And suitable for the entire family!

Escaping Reincarnation

This He did once for all when He offered up Himself. Hebrews 7:27 Every 12 years in the northern India town of Allahabad, the Hindu faithful participate in what claims to be the largest religious gathering in the world. Nearly 70 million pilgrims converge on the spot where the Ganges, Yamuna and Sarasvati Rivers come together. It's timed to coincide with the alignment of Jupiter and the sun in the astrological houses of Aquarius and Aries. The two-month event draws Hindus and tourists from all over the world. The vast grounds are transformed into a tent city, with thousands of police on hand to maintain public safety and order. The origins of this pilgrimage - known as the Kumbha Mela ("Grand Pitcher Festival") - come from a bit of Hindu mythology. According to myth, gods and demons fought a celestial war over the nectar of immortality, spilling some of it at this sacred site. But the festival's purpose is much more distinct, if no less mystical: plunging into the chilly winter waters of the revered Ganges to be purified from sin and escape the relentless cycle of reincarnation. Try to imagine feeling the need to journey hundreds or thousands of miles in search of a peace and forgiveness that never seem complete. Try to imagine what it's like to hope that a dip in some murky waters will result in eternal life. If we're ever tempted to take Christ's once-for-all sacrifice for granted, may we picture ourselves in the frantic throng at the Ganges, wondering if this water is really enough. I am grateful for Jesus' claim, promise and authoritative words in John 14:6: "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me." There is nothing murky about those words. Crystal clear. And if you believe, crystal clean! Please comment below or send me an email at curtis.songer@gmail.com

A Light in the Dark

The unfolding of Your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple. Psalm 119:130 On a rainy December day in December 1925, U.S. Army pilot Carl Crane was flying a congressman's son back to Washington, DC, when he became disoriented in a thick expanse of clouds. He was 8,000 feet over Detroit. With no gyroscope on his instrument panel to tell him his rate of turn, he didn't know if he was flying level with the earth or was banking into a free fall. Soon, he had swooped into a spiral dive and had lost complete control of the aircraft. But attempting any rescue move was a gamble. If he tried to level the wings, he was just as likely to roll upside down as right side up. If he tried to raise the nose, he might simply drive the plane more sharply into the ground. Finally, with his altitude shrinking to under 1,000 feet, he caught sight of the sign for the Statler Hotel. He now had only seconds to pull up. But with the lights of the buildings giving him guidance and perspective, he righted his plane and found his way to the Detroit River, which he followed back home, "shaking all the way." For us, the words of the Scriptures are like the lights of Detroit were to Crane on that misty night. They are divine points of perspective that give us our true bearings in every situation. They explain why we behave the way we do - and which way to turn when we've lost our way. If we will follow the Scriptures like the pilot followed the river, we will be led to a safe landing. God's Word will guide us home. Please comment below or send me an email at curtis.songer@gmail.com

Temperature Control

The fruit of righteousness will be peace; the effect of righteousness will be quietness and confidence forever. Isaiah 32:17 When you enter a room - whether it's a church class, a company meeting or maybe a lunch event - it's usually not very hard to gauge the mood of the place. It's warm, it's cold, it's engaging, it's distant, it's comfortable, it's stuffy. Anybody can be a thermometer. But as Donna Otto, founder of Homemakers by Choice, once stated, we are not called to be thermometers in our homes but thermostats. That's because thermostats don't just read the temperature. They guide it. They determine how warm or cool the home environment will be. In the same way, parents determine whether a home environment will be fun, peaceful, authentic, full of grace. Will it be a quiet sanctuary from the hard press of life? Will it be a place of joy and celebration and fellowship? Many parents today feel helpless in adjusting the climate of their home. They feel as if they can't control the predominant tempo and rhythm of the day. They've grown weary of fighting the TV-watching, video game-playing, tuned-out isolation of individual family members. In the process, far too many homes have lost a sense of purpose and direction. They've become little more than random activity centers, with no grown-ups willing to set the tone. I encourage you to counter the frantic, frenetic pace of modern life by creating an environment that limits the endless noise of bustle and commotion. Train your children to be still and read a book, to interact, to ponder and to create. Don't be a thermometer. Set the temperature. Please comment below or email me directly at curtis.songer@gmail.com

Why do People Seeking Spiritual Fulfillment Deny the Supernatural?

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
Ephesians 6:12

Fact: People in America are seeking spiritual fulfillment in ever increasing numbers. Fact: These same people get very nervous and tend to avoid discussions concerning supernatural events and forces. Why is that?

Most people will admit that they are seeking something greater in life than what they have today. There is an inner yearning for significance that drives them to seek something more than what life currently offers them. Some turn to money and/or materials things, others to obtaining power by climbing the corporate ladder, still others to finding a sense of self worth via accomplishments, and the list goes on and on: advance learning, extreme physical fitness, adventurous sex, and even deepening family relationships. Now not all of these are, in and of themselves, a bad thing. But most everyone will agree, after substantial effort is spent in pursuit of these things, they do not have lasting fulfillment. More and more people are coming to admit that the key to true, long-lasting fulfillment lies in the spiritual realm. Yet, we as Americans are too enlightened to put much credence in the existence of an all powerful, eternal, spiritual force – whether good or evil.

And yet billions of people in the world are not so encumbered by intellectual (or other forms of) hang-ups that they ignore the existence of the spiritual forces in this world and the fact that they are very real indeed. I myself have witnessed this power. But my testimony is not nearly as impactful as that of countless people I have met from Africa, South America, India, China, and more close to home, the Caribbean. They all give similar accounts of spiritual powers that are evidenced on a large scale, and on a daily basis, in these places. Spiritual powers representing both “good” and “evil” are a regular part of their daily lives. Why there and not here? I can’t say for sure, other than perhaps the forces here manifest themselves much more subtly and are typically reserved only for the first hand witness of those who are open to believing what they are seeing. Indeed, in these other locations I have mentioned, belief has existed for hundreds (if not thousands) of years. Let me give you a real-time example…

This evening, as part of my normal business travels, I hailed a cab to take me back to my hotel. Along the way, I struck up a conversation with the driver who had been operating a cab for 14 years. But this was no ordinary cab driver. He was a Haitian minister who had relocated to the U.S. to try to build a better life for his wife and children. He was a particularly well educated and a very conversant man. Had the conversation been about business and the stock market, he would have passed as an upper middle class, educated man at any dinner party.

But there was a difference. This man had been witness to many supernatural powers in Haiti – both “good” and “bad”. He had seen miraculous healings and blessings that were unexplainable other than through supernatural power. Some of you will find that as acceptable and perhaps even physically explainable. However, the more impressive (to me) supernatural powers this man had experienced were of an “evil” nature. He shared with me of stories of people who sacrificed pigs to “Satan” during worship ceremonies and subsequently drank the blood, only to receive great powers that seemingly protected them from personal disasters that the rest of the normal populace would go through. He told of stories of people who sold their souls to “Satan” and subsequently became extremely rich, lacking nothing - but then mysteriously died within 2 years while they were still young and healthy. Voodoo and witchcraft are widespread there and their powers well respected as a normal part of life by all.

As “ugly” Americans we dismiss such stories as hearsay and nonsense, convinced that we know better. And yet, our population is a mere 4.5% of the world population – the majority of which the life described above is accepted as normal. So who is right? Could it be possible that we have buried our heads in the sand, as the stereotypical ostrich and sit cozy on our artificial world of self delusion – completely ignoring the powers of this dark world and the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms? I, for one, think so.

Please comment below or email me directly at curtis.songer@gmail.com