Absence makes the heart grow fonder.....

I’m sure you’ve heard the saying, “Absence makes the heart grow fonder”; I don’t agree with that statement.  I understand that this is my opinion but since this is my blog I get to share my feelings.  I have an amazing wife who works for a great company.  Unfortunately, every year during this time she leaves me to go to work conferences that last for about three weeks.  During those three weeks I get to see her two times when she comes home for a late afternoon and evening to relax.  Maybe it’s because I’m wired differently, but I love being with my wife.  Even if we’re not talking or doing anything it brings comfort to know that she is in the next room or on the couch nearby.  I enjoy just watching her and bugging her endlessly about stuff that she could not care less about.  When Tami is not around I feel an emptiness that I don’t like, and it seems like the longer we are married the harder it gets.  I understand that many of you have jobs where you have to travel and you are used to a lifestyle like that, but I’m thankful that we have never really had to experience that type of life.  And what little I have experienced hasn’t made me love her any more, but I know that our love has grown because of the bond we have as best friends. 

I wonder how often people react to their journey with Christ in the same way—“Absence makes the heart grow fonder”?  I don’t believe it would ever be intentional, but we live in a time when so many things are pulling at our lives that it’s easy to say that we’ll catch church next week.  I’ll read my Bible and pray tomorrow or I’ll deal with that spiritual struggle next week.  We don’t love God any less, we just have fallen into the trap of thinking, “I won’t be effected by a few days away, in fact, it may even cause me to miss church or Christ more.”  Let me encourage you, we all have faced this struggle, but the thing you must determine is that nothing is going to separate you from your church family and your daily journey with Christ.  You never know what tomorrow holds, so do all you can do today to make sure you’re ready for tomorrow. 

Trust

Do you trust me?  That is a question that I’ve heard asked so many times in movies, a question that I’ve said to Tami several times during our lifetime together, and a question that comes into our lives every day.  When I go shopping, the question of trust is raised whenever I’m making an expensive purchase, when I buy a car from a car dealership it runs through my mind, and of course when I buy a home I have to ask that very question.  We are living in a day when trust is such a difficult thing to have because we are misled in so many areas.  I’ve bought the lemon car that I was promised was perfect.  I ordered that online product that was going to make my life so much easier only to get it in the mail and realize I’ve been conned.  Luckily I’ve never bought a home that had any hidden surprises waiting for me, but I’ve seen it happen to others.  Do you trust me?

The world we live in today has seen so many broken promises, from our government to our school systems, and even in the church where we should be able to trust everything.  So, how do I learn to trust?  How do I know when I can answer yes to that question?  How do I know when I can truthfully ask others to trust me knowing that I’m a man of integrity?  The Bible teaches us how to know when to say yes to both of those questions—Yes, you can trust me, and Yes, I trust you—and I encourage you to grasp these truths and apply them to your lives every day.

The people I can say “yes, I can trust you” to are the people that exemplify the character of Christ.  When I look at their lives I see fruit being produced that is good fruit.  They are not about themselves and what they can get out of me but instead want to know what can they do for me to strengthen my journey with Christ.  They don’t lie to me, cheat me, or talk bad about me.  They approach me when I’ve done something to hurt them and follow the Biblical example of talking to me one on one.  They encourage me to become the man of God that I’m supposed to be.  That is a person I can trust.  You may be saying that there are not people like that, but I want you to know that there are people like that and those are the people that you need to be seeking out and building relationships with. 

How do I know if people trust me?  Do they see Christ in me?  Do they see that my heart is passionate for the things of God for them as well as for me?  Am I producing fruit that is good fruit or am I leaving a path of destruction in the things I’m doing?  And the real hard one for me is this: do I love them enough to approach them one on one when I feel they are doing something that is contrary to Scripture?  These are such high standards and I know that we will never be perfect in living each of them every day, but they should be our goal.  If I can’t answer to the positive on most of them in my daily life, then I need to get on my knees and ask for God’s forgiveness and set out to live the way I’m called to live.  If I do live by these standards most of the days, then I need to remain humble because it is by the working of the Holy Spirit in my life that I’m able to do it.  God has called all of us to live this way, so forget the past and establish for yourself new values today to fulfill God’s plan for your life!  

A Tribute to a Special Grandmother

This morning we found out that Tami’s grandmother passed away last night. She was 98 years old and one of the most godly women I’ve ever known. I met Grandma Lebsack when I was a teenager and started dating Tami. Both Grandpa and Grandma would come to South Bend and stay in a small apartment that we had inside the church. Since they were retired they would often be there for several weeks. I found myself making my way to that small apartment so I could just sit and talk with them. They were a delight and poured so much into my life as a young man following the call of God on his life. They were both retired ministers, and every conversation gave me a nugget of something that would help me later in life.

I often remember the times I would walk in and they would be having their daily devotions. I asked myself why a retired minister would feel the need to have a daily devotion because after 50-plus years of ministry they had to know it all. Oh, the ignorance of youth! I know now that if I want to stay alive spiritually that I need to be in God’s Word on a daily basis. The years quickly went by, and Tami and I were living in Michigan when her grandfather passed away. Grandma could have gone into a hole and just waited out the rest of her life, but she didn’t. Instead, she became more active in making friends, being a support to her pastor, and ministering to people in the church. Tami and I would go and visit her in Colorado, and when we went to church she knew everyone. She could tell us about their lives and opportunities that she had to pray with them. And it wasn’t just the senior citizens of the church but rather people of all ages. We sat in her Sunday School class and listened to her pour her heart out to those present. Her class was so large that it had to meet in the church auditorium. She was always a great teacher and preacher.

When Tami and I were pastoring in Ohio, our 15th anniversary was coming up and we needed somebody to watch the kids so we could go out of town. Tami’s mom was not able to come, so we asked Grandma if she would fly up and take care of Krystal and Caleb. She gladly accepted and at 80 years old she came to take care of a teenage girl and a young boy. When we returned, Krystal made us promise that if Grandma ever came to watch them again that they wouldn’t have to ride with her in the car. Living out in the country, she had some problems with the narrow roads.

Grandma eventually moved to Texas where she lived close to family. While here, she taught me her recipe for the perfect cinnamon roll. Tami and I tried for years to make rolls like Grandma did and could never do it. Now I can because she loved baking and teaching. Tami and I had many nights where we’d pick Grandma up and just take her to dinner to talk. She had so many great stories and was always great company. I could go on and on, but I just wanted to give you a glimpse into the life of a very godly woman. I was blessed to call her Grandma for over 30 years and will rejoice someday when I get to see her again. Love your family because this life passes by very quickly. 

Guess What Happened To Me Today...

Monday morning, I came into the office still rejoicing over the day and felt a little tired but knew I had things to get done.  I spent the morning emailing people and having some study time and by the afternoon my mind was just tired.  What do you do when you have a tired mind?  Well, if it’s April and you still haven’t done your taxes, you get them out of the way.  Having done my taxes for so long and with the great software available to take care of everything, I just started entering our information and got our return finished.

Once I’d completed the return I simply had to file it electronically and our 2014 taxes would be complete.  I went through the pages answering the questions and received the confirmation that I could now send in my form.  I clicked the “Send Now” button and a picture of an envelope came up and it showed the forms being loaded into it.  Once it had all the forms it sealed itself up and I watched as clouds came rushing by showing me it was flying to the cloud to its destination.  All of the sudden a message came up: “Your form could not be filed because a form with this social security number has already been filed”!  What?!  I never filed my taxes because I never completed the forms.  I tried it about four or five more times with the same results and knew I had to call the Internal Revenue Service.

After spending 20 minutes looking for the right number to call I ended up on a recorded line and kept getting transferred to various other recordings.  It was getting really annoying listening to all these options when all I wanted was a real person to talk to.  Finally I got a message that placed me on hold and went to music, which always seems to be a good sign.  That is, until another recording comes on saying there are too many people in the queue so call back later and it just hangs up.  Have to love our tax dollars hard at work! Lol

Finally I decide to call the Fraud division and I actually get ahold of somebody.  They take all my information and look and sure enough, somebody had used my information to file a tax return.  After several minutes of discussion I knew what I had to do to correct the problem from my side and set out to fill out forms and contact organizations about the fraud.  Today, I mailed my tax return and hopefully everything else will get corrected soon.

That got me wondering about my life as a Christian.  When I get on my knees to pray and my prayers get to heaven, does a fraud alert go off?  You know, claim to be a Christian but only come to God when I need something from Him.  Or does heaven respond with open arms because God knows my heart is set on Him and He’s just waiting to move mountains on my behalf?  There are a lot of frauds out there, but don’t let yourself get caught being one.  

Remodeling For The Best

This week is a big week at the Bullard house. Last year we had our home gutted and had everything redone. It turned out amazing and has brought us much joy and will for years to come. Upon completion of the inside, we looked and felt like we wanted to address our backyard. That brings me to today’s blog.

We have been blessed to be in a home that had a pool when we bought it. We have definitely gotten our money’s worth out of the pool because we are in it several times a week when the weather is nice. However, the backyard is over 10 years old since the pool has been installed, and we want to update our backyard. We are having a covered patio area installed and having the concrete on our patio resurfaced. To resurface the patio the workers had to bring grinders to remove the top layer of the current patio. They worked a whole day just grinding away at every part of the patio, and if you understand concrete you know that grinding off the top layer will create a lot of dust. We have dust particles in our pool, all over our garage, some got through the French doors onto our wood floors—it was everywhere. Now, I could have gone out and said, “Stop!” but we would never experience the blessing of a new patio. So, in a few days we will be cleaning everything so that we can get back to normal.

Jesus looked into the lives of every one of us and said that our hearts are covered by sin and need to be resurfaced. It was because of His love for us that He came and willingly died on a cross for us. We all have sins that need to be forgiven, and the work that Jesus did on the cross is all that is required to find forgiveness. If we simply open up our hearts and accept Christ’s gift of forgiveness we will be saved. Now, in the process of forgiveness a lot of dust might be exposed. Things that need to be cleaned up like our language, the way we treat others, what we allow into our minds, and so on, but if you are forgiven you have overcome those things and through the power of the Holy Spirit you are free from them. It may take a while to clean up all the dust, but you will get it cleaned up and the new you will be a wonderful creation in Christ. 

I Need Tami....

Every year Tami has to go out of town for several weeks because of her job. Luckily, all of her travel for the year is completed by the end of March. Every year it gets harder and harder to let her go because I like having her at home at night even if we’re not doing anything together during the evening. When she is gone I feel lost, and then at night when it’s time to go to sleep it just doesn’t feel right because she is not there. I’m thankful she has such a great job and works with great people, but I love my family and really like it when they are close by.

I have friends and family that I love and I’m committed to. I look forward every week to being able to spend time with them because they are such an important part of my life. They celebrate with me, cry with me, love me, support me, teach me, and so many other things. When I am away from my family I feel lost. My spirit is aware that it’s not getting the things it needs to stay strong and alive.

I have a Savior, His name is Jesus Christ. Every day I should be connecting with Jesus through prayer, meditation, and spending some time in the Bible. Every so often I find the pace of life getting out of hand, and I sacrifice those elements that are most important to my spiritual life. I know that Jesus is just waiting to connect with me, but He is not going to force me to do something that I don’t want to do. When I don’t connect with Jesus on a daily basis I find myself beginning to feel dry and empty inside. I begin to blame others or the church for my misery because I’m not being “fed,” as so many have said through the years. But I need to remember that the most important part of my being fed comes from the time that I’m alone with Jesus. For years I’ve heard that everybody else is to blame, but just as it’s important to make sure I’m close to my family, and as important as it is that I’m close to my friends and family, it’s most important that I’m close to Jesus Christ. Are you the one who will commit to staying close to Christ? What’s the next step you have to take to make that happen? Whatever that step is, do it today! 

The Thermostat Battle

Have you ever had a battle over the thermostat? I’ve done it for years at home because Tami loves freezing me out of our house whereas I like having a nice moderate temperature. Tami is 68-70 and I’m at 72 in the summer and 70 in the winter. We’ve learned how to function in our house with this system because whoever is by the thermostat changes it to what they want.

Now, the battle of the thermostat is also at the office, and today it had me laughing. As most people know, I do not handle cold weather well, so I like the office at 72.  But I can function fine if it’s a little warmer.

All that to say that we all have the temperatures that we like for the room we are in. In the same way, there are temperatures that we like in our spiritual lives. Some of us like it hot—bring on the heat and challenge me—while others are happy with where they are and don’t want to feel the heat. I’m not really comfortable with confrontation, but I understand that the Bible is very confrontational. I have to see myself as a sinner, I have to see how I’ve fallen short, and when I do things that are sinful or destructive I need to be called out and challenged by either the Holy Spirit or by a Christian who loves me. I hope you know that I love each of you! I love you enough to do the tough thing, to call you out if you are living in rebellion.