As people get older, how many of them begin to lose hope? Birthdays are often painful reminders of how life didn’t turn out the way they had hoped.

It’s not that we’re bad people. As Christians, we just have bad tendencies. When we ask Jesus to come into our lives to serve as Lord and savior, then he’s going to take us at our word that we want to become like him.

People are looking for answers. Seeking God’s plan and his answers are far more likely to yield much better results that any online debate with acquaintances and strangers ever will.

In the movie Do You Believe (2015), J.D., a character played by Lee Majors, tells his worrisome wife, “Until the good Lord decides it’s time for me to go, there’s nothing going to kill me. When he decides it is time, there’s nothing that’s going to keep me. Not much point to worrying about it either way.”

Dick was a man of faith. Although he didn’t talk about it all the time, it was clear to me where he stood. He had been a lifelong Christian who rarely preached the Gospel, but demonstrated it frequently in his interaction with others.

It wasn’t a lecture of religious rules that finally got my attention, nor was it another reminder of my sinful nature. It was only after I listened to a message of hope that I heard the shout resonating into the grave I had dug for myself, “Greg, come out!”

The Bible is filled with stories of ordinary men with ordinary skills who are called to step off the narrow path onto a dirt road and wind up accomplishing extraordinary things in the name of God.

I know a lot of people don’t believe those “fairy tales” of people who claimed to hear the voice of God providing direction in emergencies. They are prone to dismiss it as nonsense or hype. But it happened to me, too – twice.

As I watched The Passion of the Christ again this year, I paid attention to the various types of people and groups who were depicted in the film and the roles they played in executing Christ. My observation was profound.

The people Jesus invited were not schooled in religion. In fact, few people would have considered them to be educated or even wise by worldly standards.
Yet, they accepted the offer and followed Jesus.