PASTOR’S THOUGHTS
NO SMELL OF SMOKE ON YOU: So Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego stepped out of the fire. Then the high officers, officials, governors, and advisers crowded around them and saw that the fire had not touched them. Not a hair on their heads was singed, and their clothing was not scorched. They didn’t even smell of smoke! Daniel 3:26–27 NLT There is truly no other god who can rescue like our God! atever circumstances you might be thrown into…our Lord Jesus is the fourth man with you in the midst of the fire. Notice how He didn’t stand outside of the fire…but was in the fire together with the three friends, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, when they were thrown inside for defying King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. This brings a whole new meaning for us when we read the verse, “Be strong and of good courage, do not fear nor be afraid of them; for the LORD your God, He is the One who goes with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you” (Deut. 31:6). Our Lord doesn’t deliver you from afar…He is WITH YOU in the midst of your adversity. Call upon Him and He will answer you. When Jesus is with you, nothing can harm you! I love how the Word of God describes the three friends when they came out of the furnace. They were in the fire, but it had absolutely no power over them. It did not even leave a trace of smoke on them! Now, that’s a beautiful picture of God’s divine protection! As you call upon the Lord in your day of trouble, my prayer for you is that the trial you are going through will have no power over you; it will not even leave a smell on you. Instead, I declare in Jesus’ name that you will walk out of that challenge in your life and the only smell on you will be the fragrance of the Lord Jesus (2 Cor. 2:14)! And as the people around you witness how the Lord delivers you, may they come to know His wonderful name and give Him praise. Instead of being negatively affected by whatever trial you might face, I pray that you will receive honor and promotion just like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Amen!
TRUE STORY ABOUT A HUG FROM A COLLEAGUE: It’s 2005, I’m 25 years old, and my life is about to get turned upside down. Just one year prior, my wife and I adopted a little girl from Moldova (a country that borders Ukraine and has been featured lately for the number of refugees they have taken in). We spent our life savings and went into credit card debt for the adoption not knowing my wife was pregnant. Now we have a 3 year-old adopted daughter, a 1 year-old son, and we’ve recently found out we have another son on the way. But something’s not adding up. Our daughter hasn’t “caught up” the way that most other adopted kids have. We thought it was just a language and development delay but it seems more serious than that. We walk into the doctor’s office and he delivers a crushing blow.
Doctor: “Your daughter appears to have severe autism. It’s unlikely she’ll ever be able to take care of herself.” Me (in shock, asking the wrong question): “Will she be able to go to college?” Doctor (thankfully not pulling any punches): “She will probably never do math.” ______ Still in shock and completely numb, I tried to power through the day and went back into the office to meet with clients that afternoon. Rookie mistake. The first colleague I came across was Chad Burch. He must have seen my blank stare or some other sign I was messed up… Chad: “Tommy, are you okay?” Me: “We just found out Grace has auti…” (I burst into tears – seriously, just typing these words now and feeling those feels is bringing those same tears back to my eyes 16 years later) I have no clue what he said but I know it was comforting. HERE’S WHAT I DO REMEMBER. CHAD GAVE ME A BIG HUG. You have to understand the context to understand the power of this hug. Just a week prior to this, I’d been put on a performance improvement plan by Chad and his partners. I was a brash 25 year-old know it all who hadn’t been kicked in the teeth enough by life yet to know what a complete idiot I was. Prior to this moment, Chad and I had definitely never hugged. We really didn’t see each other all that often because our offices were on different floors in the building. At the moment I needed it most, Chad didn’t care about the performance improvement plan…he didn’t care about HR…he didn’t care that we didn’t know each other all that well. He simply stepped up and had compassion for a deeply hurting human.
I often move so fast through business and life I miss seeing the needs that are all around me with our wonderful team members day in and day out. Sometimes people just need to know you care. From that day forward, I never had another performance improvement issue with Chad’s firm. They got a whole new level of performance and respect out of me.
Sometimes people need a kick in the pants, but more often than not, they might just need to know we actually care. We give our best when we feel valued most.—Tommy Martin, CEO of The Tebow Group
Compassion is a powerful thing. We need to challenge ourselves more often and let people know we care/understand/love them. Make a difference in someone’s life!