“You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.” C.S. Lewis

I was part of a group that was hiking a trail down to Ein Gedi. You can see the Dead Sea in the background of the picture, which is how far we had yet to go.

After a smooth beginning, the trail started getting quite a bit more difficult. This was a trail for experienced hikers with hiking shoes. The trail at times was covered with rock slides, had very narrow sections to pass, and had deep steps requiring hold holds to get down.

We kept praying. “Lord give us peace as we continue and for those who need strength, please supply it.” We then had experienced hikers helping others as there was simply no way we could take them back up the “hill.”

Yet, it was so awesome to watch this group of Jesus lovers working together. Some climbed up and down the trail many times while others were overcoming fears as they continued with the encouragement of others.

And though tired, what a sense of accomplishment we all had! God worked in and through us that day. How we ended up on the trail didn’t matter once we were on it.

We get where we are by our or others’ choices. We can’t go back and change that. We can, however, choose to go forward in the power of God who more often than not supplies that power through other Jesus travelers.

You can’t change the past. You can only change the future. Choose to take hold of the truths that God has covered your past through Jesus’ death and that He gives you the power to go forward through the same power that rose Jesus from the grave.

Experience life today as you let Him transform your life while going forward in Him and with His people.

“Where you’re going might not be what you were made for.” Anonymous eXtreme Tour artist

This same person wrote: “Why compromise for less than God’s best?/Just do what you do and don’t tell others./What you were made for is so much better than where you’re headed./Today is another opportunity to get it right.”

The moment you placed your faith in Jesus, the Father had a divine plan for your life (Eph. 2:10), which will include struggles and difficult times. Jesus’ life is our example.

The Father’s direction, however, will take us in the only direction that brings fulfillment now with lasting eternal effects. Any other direction, though noble and good, will never fulfill us the way the Father’s direction will.

Are you telling the Father your direction and asking Him to bless it? Getting your direction from others, even “godly” people? It doesn’t work that way.

Follow Jesus’ example. He listened to the Father and did what His Father said to do, even when His buddies rebuked Him for doing it!

Feeling frustrated? It may be that you are going in a direction for which you were not made. Maybe it’s time to slow down and lay out your direction before the Father and let Him tweak or change it completely.

Sound scary? What other option do you have if you want the Father’s best for your time here on earth?

It’s time to trust and put into action going His direction, the one He made you for. And guess what, each day is another day to get it right!

Tell people they are victims and they’ll act like victims.

The resurrection of Jesus Christ was a huge statement in both the seen and unseen world.

It told the unseen world they are delusional to think that they can ultimately win the war for this planet. Jesus took away their ultimate tool – the fear of death and the unknown of what’s on the other side of this plane of existence.

Jesus as God entered the world like all humans do – conception and birth. He grew into adulthood. Fulfilled His Father given purpose (Jn. 3:16). Was murdered on Passover; and then, rose again on the Feast of Firstfruits or Resurrection Day.

This is crucial. He died physically and came back to life physically, scars and all. He is alive and victorious. We now have physical and historical proof that there is life after death due to Jesus’ victory over death. The unseen world is defeated, though still delusional.

His resurrection also affects the seen world. His resurrection and life can bring dead marriages back to life. Give dead-end jobs purpose. Breathe life back into deflated dreams. And, bring hope where there is none.

The words you tell yourself each day have a huge impact on your attitude and your choices. You are not a victim!! Christ is alive and so are you! Jesus is victorious and so are you!

So start waking up each day with a victorious attitude. You can win today through the position you hold as God’s child due to Jesus’ victory over the grave. You can win today through resurrection power due to God living inside you. You can defeat the enemies in both the unseen and seen realms of life.

You are a victorious child of God. Think and act like it…today!

We ask for a map to deal with life. Jesus, instead, gives us a compass and says to follow Him.

Are you seeing a sunset or sunrise? It depends on what coast you’re on, west or east, and what time of day it is. 

I was looking at a sunset that confused me. I was on the west coast of the country and looking at water, which I thought was an ocean. 

I pulled out my compass to discover I was facing east! I was so disorientated. There was no way I could be facing east, but I was.

There are times when life disorients us. We have difficulties knowing whether we’re coming or going. This is why truth is so important. The compass revealed truth whether I believed it or not. I had to change to it, not it to me.

We live in a time that wants to change the truth/compass. If you let them win, you lose. 

Jesus is the truth that gives us purpose and direction. Stay in the Word and listen to and then follow Jesus practicing the truth in your daily choices. 

Enjoy the sunrises and sunsets of life! Jesus made them. 

It’s better to wait on God’s timing to pull everything together than to rush ahead where everything falls apart.  

This is the Pool of Siloam where the blind man washed away the mud Jesus put on his eyes in order to regain his sight.

All of what you currently see was covered by layers and layers of dirt and debris when I first came here in 1999.

Now, after 12 years of litigation in the Israeli Supreme Court, Israel has finally been able to lease the entire pool area from the Greek Orthodox Church for the next 198 years.

Every year I came back over the past 24 years, though, I was able to see more of the Bible come alive through new finds in this area. Think about that for a second.

Archeologists could have been sitting idly by waiting to have the entire area. Instead, they’ve been excavating what they could, while waiting on what they couldn’t.

The Father will accomplish His purposes in your life in His timing. The question is, “Are you doing what you can today in preparation for what He has for you tomorrow?”

It’s been said, “A good rule of thumb for many things in life holds that things take longer to happen than you think and then happen much faster than you thought.”

Let Jesus remove useless dirt and debris from your life today in order to prepare you for what He has in store for you tomorrow.