As I get ready to go join with other leaders and minister in Grand Rapids, Michigan I was once again amazed at the marvelous construct of God’s plan for each of us.  Leaders must lead.  Leaders must investigate.  Leaders must explore.  Leaders must rub shoulders with the genius of transparent communication, exploration, and accountability.  This is not a new thing, in fact, it is the pattern from which we study and explore Truth.  It’s the reality of sitting at the ancient Table of the Rabbi’s.

A great leader once said, “Truth is only discovered in the wider context and community of humanity!  One group, one culture, one denomination cannot express the entirety of the Truth of Jesus Christ because their individual bias will ultimately bend their perception of their revelation until it becomes the image for which they derive purpose.  In other words, They exist for the purpose of exclaiming their position.”  Simply put, their position on and their opinions about “truth” becomes more important than the pursuit of “truth.”  Thus, they live in the shadows of idolatry!

Have you ever noticed how easy it is to get bogged down on this journey we call Life?

Well, I have good news for you.  Dump the baggage!  That’s right, get rid of the baggage that slows you down.  Anything that is not feeding you and investing nutritious wonder into your life must be expelled from your life.  If not, those things will ultimately become toxic to you and if not properly treated, will kill you.

Far too often, we meet people who were once dreamers.  They had huge aspirations for God.  They truly desired to live a rambunctious, faith adventure for the glory of the Lord Jesus.  But, somewhere along the journey, they became slow because of the weight associated with all the things that became a drag to them.  They were dragged down because they chose lesser dreams. They simply chose average over extraordinary. They chose safety over risk.  When we choose a lesser dream we’ve made a choice for something that requires less courage, less risk, and less sacrifice.  So we abdicate the great dream God has for us and settle for a manageable dream we can work for around us.

Friends,

Today, we honor the memory of those brave men and women who have fought so valiantly for the struggles of enduring freedom and the cause of liberty for all men.  Their sacrifice is a burden we all share. The lexicon of men fails to redress the loss of life of these heroes and heroines.  The loss, the pain and the struggle each family bears is a pain and torment that comes from the agony of such loss. Our nation is forever indebted and we remain humbly grateful to all for the ultimate sacricifice – they have laid down their lives for each of us!

This day also serves to remind this nation of the price paid for its Judeo-Christian liberty and justice.  Our glorious Savior laid down His life for our ultimate freedom: liberty here and throughout eternity!

 The noted journalist Malcolm Muggeridge once lamented the nefarious ideas which have shaped modern beliefs.  This Englishman said, “We have educated ourselves into imbecility.”  Why the aberrant behavior in our culture, which postulates its genius from academia and regal halls of learning?  America’s moral degeneracy is the fruit of her unbridled liberty and absolute individual autonomy.  You see, America’s cultural “freedoms” have come at the expense of social constructs, Judeo-Christian convictions and moral absolutes.

A new breed of thinkers was unleashed to prejudice the minds of this generation’s young scholars and opinion makers. They worked in concert to deliver society from the tyranny of our God-infested past and remake our culture in their own image.  They intended to vanquish philosophically anything that smacked of moral restraint.  The pen became their sword and the professor’s lectern, their pulpit.

Friends,

Our human frailty is most expressed in those moments of our greatest weakness.  Weariness always brings out the worst in us.  It seems to me that this week has been a one in which the spiritual warfare in our nation has been intensified to wear down the saints of the Most High God.  (See Daniel 7:25).

I do not recall another holiday in which more people struggled within their souls.  Their emotions are raw. They find it difficult or nearly impossible to voice their adoration to God and give expressions of gratitude and thanksgiving.  Many Christians are deluged at Mother’s Day with the sore and delicate memories often associated with the loss of a mother or the scars they carry in life as mothers.  What a tragedy.