Do Not Harden Your Hearts

Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts (Heb 3:7-8)

This verse in Hebrews is quoted from Psalm 95 which I have read in my pilgrimage through the Psalms .  I have thought a lot in recent weeks about what it means to have a hard heart. 

1. I have no desire to read God's word or pray (starts here).
2. I lack a love for people.
3. I lack contentment.
4. I have no inner peace and joy.
5. I commit willful sins.
6. My mind wanders during worship.
7. I lose my temper frequently (and not righteously).
8. My tongue is sharpened.
9. etc, etc.

You can harden your own heart.  Over 600,000 of the Israelites fell in the desert because they had hard hearts.  Psalm 95:10 says their hearts went astray.  Funny, but I almost always certainly know when my heart goes astray.  What draws me back is the fact that I hate staying very long in the hard heart penalty box.  God greatly desires a relationship with me and will do anything to bring me back into that right relationship.  That includes struggles and disciplines.  The ticket out of the hard heart penalty box is time with him in prayer, bible study, and worship.  

Bubble Wrap

One of the things you never outgrow is bubble wrap.  You could receive the greatest gift in the world and if you see bubble wrap in there, it trumps the gift every time.  Is it the noise?  Is it the stress reliever?  Is it the arm twisting to get your exercise?  All of the above?  Too bad the stuff is probably the worst as far as being bio-degradable.  Someone should invent green bubble wrap.

Good to Thank and Praise

It is good to give thanks to the Lord

and to sing praises to Your name, O Most High

To declare Your lovingkindness in the morning

And your faithulness by night

Psalm 92:1-2

I have heard this psalm before, but I never really noticed the order.  Thanks comes before praise.  Sometimes I am so blown away by God's goodness that I have to break out in praise.  How could it possibly be reversed?  I can't start in praise and then turn to thanks because praise always comes from thanksgiving.  I am not sure what I could praise God for if it didn't start in praise.  

The second is the declaration of lovingkindness starts in the morning and then ends at night.  I know some people say they don't do devotions until evening but I don't know how you don't start in the morning.  Our models such as Jesus always started first thing in the morning.  That sets the tone for the day.  I know when I blow past devotions in the morning, it usually is difficult to end the day right at night.  

Third is it starts in lovingkindness and ends with faithfulness.  God's love is the starting point.  Like thanks, we have nothing to offer so it is always God's love manifest in his gift of grace.  By the end of the day, faithfulness is evident because I have so hosed everything up that it becomes real clear how faithful God is.  Paul writes that "even when we are faithless, He remains faithful". 

Finally, notice the action verbs - we give thanks, we sing praise, we declare lovingkindness.  Our part is to make God known.  I know that when I am close to the Lord, these verbs have to spring out of overflow of gratitude.  I can't help but give thanks, sing praise, declare lovingkindness.  When my focus is not thanks, love, and faithfulness, it usually means the focus is me and I can't possible give, sing, and declare.  

Max and Sports

I have mentioned to a few people that I could write a whole blog just on my dog.  So here is another one.

Max is scared of sports.  It started years ago when as a frustrated, vocal Cleveland fan, I would be yelling at the TV.  It may have actually been a rare moment of success.  But if you were a dog, you wouldn't know the difference.  So Max was very scared and I found him in his house (his cage) literally trembling.  But now Max actually knows when sports is on the TV.  I could be watching sometime I really could be caring less about like curling (why Debsue loves this I don't know) and if he sees people moving around engaged in sports, he will sit up and literally stare at you.  Does your dog know what is on the channel?  If we express any emotion at all, he will plant his head on your lap.  Finally, if the yelling starts, he very slowly slinks back to the sanctity of his house safe from the rabid Cleveland sports fan.  Haven't seen a lot of trembling recently but just wait.  The playoffs are starting.

The Biggest Misquote in History

I know there have been a number of times where I have been misquoted.  Sometimes it is a matter where my words are taken out of context.  Context is everything - without the surrounding words, what we are trying to say can be misinterpreted.  Sometimes it is a matter of omission where missing words leave the remaining words to mean something completely different from what we meant.  Finally, it can be complete misuse of the words I said.  They take the same words and apply it to a completely different application.  Many times the party hearing my words means no misquote.  They simply heard me wrong or misunderstood.  It would be a completely different story if the party on the other end intentionally misused my words.  That happens occasionally.

The devil does this in Psalm 91:11-13.  Many know these words but may not see the whole context.  These words from the psalmist are quoted by the devil when Jesus was tempted in the desert in Matthew 4:5-6.  These are the only words in the bible that we see as a direct quote from the devil.  Jesus is tempted to throw himself from the pinnacle of the temple.  The devil says "He will command his angels concerning you" and "On their hands, they will bear you up so that you will not strike your foot against a stone".  The devil leaves out a glaring omission that changes the whole context.  It is the simple words "in all your ways".  Seams like a minor omission.  But it changes the whole context of the quote.  If Jesus threw himself down to tempt God, it would be for the purpose of self-exaltation because Jesus already knew of why He was here.  Sometimes we use God's word in the same way.  We leave words out to accomplish our purposes, not God's.  The devil also omitted words of judgment.  The psalmist says the serpent will be trampled.  Guess who that is referring to?  Wonder why he left that one out.  The devil's judgment is pronounced.  The sentence has not been carried out.  The devil is still free to abuse an misquote but there comes a time when his abuse is over.

I am told that there are thousands of counterfeit currencies out there.  Bank tellers are not trained in all of the counterfeits.  They are trained in knowing the original so well the counterfeit stands out.  That is Jesus' response here as He identifies the omissions and context.  How well do you know the original?

My Shriveled Cleveland Sports Heart

Basketball playoffs have started.  I am not a big fan of the NBA, but I love to watch the Cavaliers play.  There is no doubt in my mind that Lebron James is the best player ever.  I saw a lot of Michael Jordan in his heyday, but Lebron does so many things well.  He is a better passer than Jordan by far and I think a better defender and rebounder.  This kid is truly amazing and he is from our backyard in Akron.  I very much hope he stays in Cleveland.  The Cavs as a team are also fun to watch as they play hard every night.  They are ready to take the prize, something we have not had in Cleveland since 1964. 

But I am from Cleveland and it seems like we are never over-optimistic.  I lived through "the drive", "the shot", Jose Mesa implosion, blowing a 3-1 series lead to Boston, etc.  Last year, we blew through everyone only to get snuffed by Orlando.  We hold back - we are from Cleveland.  Our pastor Joe Coffey calls it "our little shriveled Cleveland sports heart".  Some cities claim droughts - Cubs for example.  But no city has experienced a complete sports drought like Cleveland.  And it is not just the drought - it is the way we lose.  Heartbreak after heartbreak. 

But maybe this year is the year. 

Numbering Our Days

This past year, I turned 50.  That means likely half of my life is over.  Nearly two years ago, I had serious blood clots in my lungs that were potentially life threatening.  My stepfathers son died in a freak accident a few weeks ago while camping. He was in his thirties.  We don't know when our life on this earth will end.

Moses, the author of Psalm 90 compares the eternality of God to the brevity of man.  Likely Moses wrote this during the period covered in Numbers 20.  An entire generation had died and only Moses Miriam, Aaron, Caleb and Joshua were living.,  Moses had learned that he would not go into the promised land after sinning by striking the rock.  Then Aaron and Miriam die.  It is natural that Moses would reflect on life - how short it is even though he was an old man at the time.  Life is uncertain at best.  Moses understands that this world is spoiled by sin.  In verse 9, he says "all of our days pass away under your wrath; we finish our years with a moan".

My reaction can be one of self pity. I see how my reaction should be in second half of the psalm.

1. Remember how precious each day is - v.12
2. Renew myself in God each morning and remember His goodness each day - v. 14
3. Be glad for spiritual discipline for it makes me stronger - v.15
4. Pass along your faith to the next generation - v. 16
5. Make each day count for God - v.17

Teach us to number our days aright,

that we may gain a heart of wisdom (90:12)

Looking at Life Like Maxwell

I often think that we should approach life like our dog.  He does the same things every day.

• Dried sawdust nuggets covered in warm water - yum
• Playing with the same toy at the same time.
• Go out with us to get the paper and the mail
• Bark and chase after animals he has no prayer of catching

Yet somehow each of these things is treated as if each is the best thing on the face of the planet.  Oh boy - I get sawdust nuggets covered in warm water today.  Is it time to play yet? 

And then there is the getting the paper and mail routine.  I don't know what he is thinking when he things he is going out to get the mail.  But boy does he love it.  He runs out the door with grand expectations.  Maybe Publishers Clearing House is coming today.  See below.



I wish I could see life sometimes through his lens.  Mmm - Special K this morning.  Wow, this morning I get to drive to the office.  Check e-mail today - awesome.

It's Tax Time

Just filed our taxes and not a moment too late. Being a CPA in the past and also having been educated as a CFP, I have a reasonably detailed understanding of the tax code. But nobody and I repeat nobody could possibly understand all of the nuances of our tax code. Consider the following facts:

1. According to an analysis of IRS data by Taxpayer Advocate Service (TAS), U.S. taxpayers and businesses spend about 7.6 billion hours a year complying with the filing requirements of the Internal Revenue Code.  And that figure does not even include the millions of additional hours that taxpayers must spend when they are required to respond to an IRS notice or an audit.
   
2. If tax compliance were an industry, it would be one of the largest in the United States.  To consume 7.6 billion hours, the “tax industry” requires the equivalent of 3.8 million full-time workers.
3. Compliance costs are huge both in absolute terms and relative to the amount of tax revenue collected. Based on Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data on the hourly cost of an employee, TAS estimates that the costs of complying with the individual and corporate income tax requirements in 2006 amounted to $193 billion – or a staggering 14 percent of aggregate income tax receipts.
4. Since the beginning of 2001, there have been more than 3,250 changes to the tax code, an average of more than one a day, including more than 500 changes in 2008 alone.
5. The Code has grown so long that it has become challenging even to figure out how long it is. A search of the Code conducted in the course of preparing this report turned up 3.7 million words.  A 2001 study published by the Joint Committee on Taxation put the number of words in the Code at that time at 1,395,000.  A 2005 report by a tax research organization put the number of words at 2.1 million, and notably, found that the number of words in the Code has more than tripled since 1975.
6. Tax regulations, which are issued by the Treasury Department to provide guidance on the meaning of the Internal Revenue Code, now stand about a foot tall.  The CCH Standard Federal Tax Reporter, a leading publication for tax professionals that summarizes administrative guidance and judicial decisions issued under each section of the Code, now comprises 25 volumes and takes up nine feet of shelf space. Two companies publish newsletters daily that report on new developments in the field of taxation; the print editions often run 50-100 pages and the electronic databases contain substantially more detailed information. The complexity of the Code leads to perverse results. On the one hand, taxpayers who honestly seek to comply with the law often make inadvertent errors, causing them either to overpay their tax or to become subject to IRS enforcement action for mistaken underpayments of tax. On the other hand, sophisticated taxpayers often find loopholes that enable them to reduce or eliminate their tax liabilities.  
7. Individual taxpayers find the return preparation process so overwhelming that more than 80 percent pay transaction fees to help them file their returns. About 60 percent pay preparers to do the job, and another 22 percent purchase tax software to help them perform the calculations themselves.
8. The Code contains no comprehensive Taxpayer Bill of Rights that explicitly and transparently  sets out taxpayer rights and obligations. Taxpayers do have rights, but they are scattered throughout the Code and the Internal Revenue Manual and are neither easily accessible nor written in plain language that most taxpayers can understand.

Check this flow chart out on just which form to file from the New York State government.  And that is just which form to use. 

What is our government's response?  Well under the current administration instead of simplifying the code, it is to put onerous requirements on tax preparers.  Someone has said that our tax code complexity is only a few years from spiraling into oblivion meaning it will be physically impossible to yield accurate results.  When the IRS can't interpret its own code, it is time to punt.

It is time to start over.  Modifying this beast is impossible.

Bring Out the Book

The word of God is living and active

and sharper than any two-edged sword

Our church service lasts for about an hour.  It seems like it starts and before it really gets going, it ends.  I know that sometimes it feels like we approach going to church like we are selecting from a menu.  Let's see - let's go to the first service or maybe the contemporary service.  And then there is the service in the venue our church calls the Cafe where people worship with one hand on a cup of coffee.  I am not at all saying our church misses the mark.  People can worship in lots of different ways.  We learned that going to services in other countries.  We have a lot of people come to our church and it is great we provide different ways to allow them to worship.

But I often wonder if we really approach the word of God in a cavalier way.  In Nehemiah Chapter 8 at the dedication of the wall, there was a six hour church service.  You heard that right.  People heard the word preached from daybreak till noon.  But it was their attitude that caught my attention.

1. They listened attentively - v.3
2. They responded affirmatively - v.6
3. They worshiped appropriately (faces to the ground) - v.7
4. They applied it personally - they grieved - v.9
5. They celebrated joyfully - v.10

My attitude towards worship starts Saturday night.  I need to prepare my heart much earlier than Sunday morning.  I need to pray that God will work in my heart and that my time is a personal encounter with the living God in community with my brothers and sisters.  I need to pray that God will block out anything that gets in my way during that brief time.

The Right Guy Won

Like you, I found myself on Sunday riveted watching the Masters.  Partly it was out of curiosity as to how Tiger Woods would fare in this tournament.  Being in the golf business, Tiger means everything to golf.  It is a well known fact that ratings for golf go up 50% when he plays.  Had he won, there would have been a new buzz in the golf community.  But after seeing Phil Mickelsen win and dedicate the win to his wife, I found myself a little choked up.  Here is one guy dedicated to his wife, his marriage, his kids.  I went to Firestone a few years back and followed Mickelsen and he always struck me as cordial and friendly.  I complimented him on a shot and he even turned to me and said thanks.  Wow!  We all know the Woods saga and I wish for his sake and golf that his act is together.  He did not come off well in the CBS interview where in my mind he basically said "I come to win and my behavior is what it is".  But we need more guys like Phil Mickelsen as role models.  He seems to know his priorities.  And he is a heckuva golfer. 

My Duty at the Border

I spent a day a few weeks ago delivering a couple of our sold systems up to Canada.  Why didn't you ship the systems you may ask?

1. Too expensive
2. It gets damaged
3. Because our system uses in-country wireless, it is prone to error unless it is tested and debugged in-country.  

 So we made the decision that I would physically drive lots of equipment up to Toronto area for delivery.  I am aware that many people would lie and just drive it across the border.  However, I have made a point a long time ago to avoid lying in the little things because lying in the little things leads to lying in the big things.  So I knew going on up that I would declare the value at the border and figure it out as it goes.  We did our best homework navigating through the numerous forms and regulations as to how to bring things across the border.  Nevertheless, I was expecting challenges and I wasn't disappointed.

I got to the border and my first mistake was I went in the auto lane instead of the commercial goods lane.  I was driving an auto I figured.  The immigration agent asked me gruffly where I was from and what I was bringing.  I said equipment.  He said how much.  I said XXk.  He pointed over to an area under a canopy and directed me to drive under it and wait.  I went under the canopy and waited, and waited and waited.  So I decided to go into the adjacent building and ask what I was supposed to do.  A not so nice Canadian border agent told me I was supposed to wait outside.  So I went back out and waited some more.  A rather nice female border agent then told me they had to escort me with flashing lights back over to the commercial goods section where I should have been in the first place.  So after about 20 minutes, the border truck shows and they take me literally across the road to the commercial goods section.  I then waited in line with mostly trucks waiting to go through customs.  A nice customs agent told me to park and then go in and pay my duty tax.

I went inside totally without a clue as to what to do.  Fortunately, a nice trucker guy who had gone through the drill helped me to my paperwork on the computer and print our my paperwork.  Since our "importer" was a one-time situation, I had to use a temporary importer number that was taped to the counter.  I then handed the paperwork to an agent at the counter whose sole job was to simply walk the paperwork back to someone else to process.  Otherwise it seemed her job was to read her book while others stood around.  She directed me to a waiting area and I waited some more.

A customs agent stuck his head out and called my name.  He told me the importer number I used could not be valid.  I told him I simply copied the one down that was next to the computer.  Maybe I copied it down wrong.  Could I change it now so he could reprocess it?  No!  So back through the process I went.  Finally, I was called to settle the duty charges.  No problem - almost done I thought.  The cashier asks me how I was going to pay.  I said credit card.  Problem - the most they can take on credit card is $500.  So I had to pay part on credit card, part on check.  Then she had a problem converting Canadian currency to US currency.  Finally after another 20 minutes I am really done or so I thought.  I go across the border and finally get up to Toronto around 3:00 PM.  When I get there, I get a frantic call from the customs cashier.  It seems she calculated the wrong conversion rate and I owed gulp $10.56.  I resisted the temptation to say "go pound sand" and offered my credit card for the balance.

So after about two hours, I was on my way.  Not the worst experience in the world and had I gone through the drill before, I would know.  However there may be certainly other ways of doing things that are a little less challenging.

Give Me an Undivided Heart

Teach me your way O Lord

and I will walk in your truth;

Give me an undivided heart,

that I may fear your name. (Ps 86:11)

Spurgeon once said to pray is to pray with an argument before God.  In this psalm of David, he prays from beginning to end and his prayers always have arguments.  Do XX so that I can do YY.  In the case of the YY, it isn't out of self-interest but out of bringing glory to God.

This particular part of the prayer has always caught my eye.  Give me an undivided heart?  My whole life has been an undivided heart.  I have always been caught up in self-interest.  I am fond of saying that the things we think of when we stand in the shower show our priorities.  Most times, that is not aligned with God.  Sometime during the course of the day, God gets my attention and I am snapped back to the reality that God has a plan for my life and it is a real journey to know what it is.  For the longest time, I thought I would do XX and he would bless it.  Now, I have finally realized that my plans are not His plans and I get to really find out what his plan is.  My prayer is truly for an undivided heart and I know that may be painful.  I now pray just about every day that God would remove the obstacles that get in my way of true allegiance to Him.  

David says the reason is to fear your name.  That's a weird one.  David didn't consult me, but if I wrote the psalm, I might say to glorify your name, to exalt your name, or to call on your name.  But to fear your name?  Fear in this sense is a healthy reverential fear showing an awe for the living God.  When you have an undivided heart, you really realize how mighty and awesome the living God really is.  Further, He gives you an incredible sense of peace and joy, the peace that surpasses all understanding. 

So pray this way - Lord, I willingly submit all under your authority.  You know me better than I know myself.  Take all away that would needlessly entangle me so that I can run with endurance the race that is set before me fixing my eyes on Jesus, who is the author and perfecter of my faith.  I know it may be painful, but I know that discipline brings true joy and true allegiance.  Help me to realize in my weakness how mighty and awesome you are.  

Are you willing to pray this prayer?  I assure you it is worth it.

Dollar Menus

I am in the middle of this process of trying to lose weight.  My daughter is getting married next month and that means as the father of the bride, I have to look somewhat presentable.  Besides, I will be appearing in those pictures for years.  I have certain incentive pictures with my belly hanging over my waist.  A few years back after I lost all this weight, I bought a really nice Italian suit.  Unfortunately unless I perpetually hold my breath, I haven't been able to fit into it in the past few years.  I have already lost 10 pounds and because I have been lifting weights I feel like I have lost more as things have shifted if you know what I mean.  So I need to lose another 5 to fit into the suit, but my goal is another 10 to 15.

Thus, the point of this blog post.  The fast food chains have these dollar menus.  Now, I am basically cheap and I have long since figured out that I can go into McDonalds and order three things (none of which I really like) for $3 (notice my CPA brain in gear), it will be less than buying the thing that probably I would really want which is those Angus steakburgers.  So I figure which one wins out, the cheapness or the taste.  For me, cheap wins out 90% of the time.  Unfortunately, since I have started tracking my calories in Livestrong, there isn't much room for either since I would consume a whole days calories from either choice.  So calories trump cheap.  Finally, I saw the documentary Food, Inc.  And I learned about all the crap (sorry for the word) it is.  So even crap trumped calories which trumped cheap.  I haven't quit entirely (I still have a weakness for Sausage McMuffins), but I am getting there.

A Covenant of Love

I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever;

with my mouth I will make known your faithfulness through all generations

In Psalm 89, Ethan the psalmist writes of God's covenant love.  The word mercies, or great love, or steadfast love is the word hesed which is repeated throughout the psalm.  He is singing because of his utter confidence that God will keep His covenant to establish the line of David forever.  This covenant cannot be violated based on any action on our part.  Yet the psalm also makes clear that sin will be punished but never at the expense of the covenant.

If his sons forsake my law and do not follow my statutes,

if they violate my decrees and fail to keep my commands,

I will punish their sin with the rod, their iniquity with flogging;

but I will not take my love from him,

nor will I ever betray my faithfulness.

I will not violate my covenant or alter what my lips have uttered (vv. 30-32)

When Jesus hung on the cross, he said "It is finished".  The word is tetelestai which means canceled, paid in full.  The debt our sins deserved was fully paid on the cross.  God signed a covenant with us with Jesus' blood.  The evidence of His acceptance or His signature is in the resurrection.  We cannot earn salvation nor can we lose it.  The covenant is permanent. Have you accepted this covenant of love?  On this Easter Sunday, will you accept God's covenant of love in your heart?

Heman's Dark Night of the Soul

In studying through the Psalms, a typical pattern is that the writer is experiencing trials and cries out for mercy to God.  Then we see the writer realizing that God is the God of grace and mercy and it is almost as if the writer then comes to maturity and writes about it.

Psalm 88 is no such psalm.  It is written by an otherwise anonymous writer named Heman (keep wanting to call him Herman like in Munster).  Heman is experiencing a deep depression that winds its way through the entire psalm.  There is no good news in this psalm.  In fact, Heman actually blames God for his troubles in vv. 6-8 and then accuses Him of ignoring his pleas for help.  You come away thinking Heman had absolutely no hope.  Yet Heman still had the conversation with God.  Have we ever been there before?  Have we blamed God for our situation and felt He was ignoring our pleas for help?  I know I have.  I find myself there often.  Yet I still have the conversation with God and absolutely trust His provision for my life despite its pain.  The Bible is not a book of all good news.  God has included Psalm 88 for us to identify with. Thank you Heman.

The problem is that God's timing is not our timing.  We stand on this side of the resurrection and it is only when we are raised with Christ, we will see the entire picture.  Imagine Jesus on the cross today and today is the darkest night of the soul!!  All hope is lost and it is Psalm 88.  But then there is the resurrection and victory and Psalm 89 that follows 88.  Psalm 89 starts out with praise and it is a psalm of God's covenant (hesed) love.  But that is Sunday's post.