Am I Crazy?

I have had a few times in my Christian life where my faith was challenged to the point where I had to ask myself, Am I crazy for being a Christian? This usually occurred when life was exceptionally challenging due to such things as sickness or financial stress. At these times my brain wants to rationalize why I have chosen to give my life to God. 

Step back for a minute and think about this. I believe in a God that came to earth in a man's body over 2000 years ago. He was beaten, nailed to a wooden cross, and died. It does not end there, though. He rose to life again and is living today in my heart. When He ascended to heaven, He sent down the Holy Spirit who is leading and guiding me today. How does the Holy Spirit do this? Why, it is a small voice that I hear in my head, of course. You could see how, especially to a nonbeliever, this would sound crazy! 

So why do I believe such a story? Why do I follow a God that is invisible? Unlike an idol, I cannot see or touch Him. I simply have to have faith He's there. For me personally, this goes back to the place in the Bible where it says that signs, wonders, and miracles will follow those who believe. Unlike an idol, God has power that can heal, deliver, and restore. Billions of people around the world can testify to how He rescued and restored them. I personally have seen blind eyes opened, deaf ears healed, and the lame walk. And this is through my very hands and prayers. Am I special? Absolutely not! God is just looking for some crazy people who will believe and do what He says! 

Thank you for reading and God bless.

What Not To Do When You Are Tired

Wisdom can be imparted in the most unexpected ways. I am not sure where I first heard this, but it definitely stuck with me, and has served me well. It was a short laundry list of things not to do when you are tired. I don't remember them all, but they are all common sense. The first one was: Do not make any big decisions when you're tired. The second piece of advice was not to have any major discussions. 

This week we have had three out of four children sick with ear infections and chest colds. Our youngest one, under two years old, had an infection in both ears as well as the chest cold. A round of antibiotics would easily fix this for him. Couple that with Tylenol or Advil, and we would have been in for some smooth sailing. This little guy, however, does not like to take medicine. You would think I could hold a guy who's less than three feet tall … that was not the case! I'm not sure, it was late at night, but I think he might have body-slammed me the last time we tried to give it to him! It's a little foggy—I just came to while lying on the floor in the dark. OK, maybe that's a little bit of an exaggeration, but the point, is he doesn't like medicine. 

For three days in a row we battled with him to take his medicine, causing all types of ruckus in our home. We tried putting it in pop. We tried putting it on candy. You name it, we tried it! No go! The pain in his ears and coughing kept him up in the night and as a result, kept us up. For three days straight we had maybe ten to twelve hours of sleep in total.  As the hours and subsequent days wore on, the tension in our house began to climb. By the third day you could cut it with a knife. My wife and I begin to snap at each other over really small things. By the third day she wanted to talk about what had happened over the previous days. The problem was, we were both exhausted. As the conversation began, the tension began to mount again. That is when the wise saying from the laundry list of Don’ts came back into my mind: Don't have any serious discussions when you're tired. So that's what I said, and for me, that was a big deal! With no sleep I turn into a grouchy bear!  Inevitably, my gracious wife agreed, and we decided to go to bed and discuss it in the morning. 

That night we each had a full night’s sleep! Hallelujah! The next morning when we woke up, we had an entirely different perspective! The things that were bothering us and had seemed huge just the night before, almost melted away. To be clear, we did not go to bed angry; we just decided to have the needed conversation the next day instead. Though we still needed to work a couple of things out, we were able to approach it with fresh eyes and make a better plan going forward. So if you are exhausted, especially with young children, be aware when you're having
those big conversations. Having those kinds of conversations when you are tired will often lead to blowups. These blowups can lead to words you may end up regretting, and actions that can never be taken back. Therefore, agreeing to sleep on it may end up being the best option all around.
 
God bless and thank you for reading.
 
All the best, Jeff Barnhardt

Depression and the Breakthrough

January 16th is dubbed the most depressing day of the year. Maybe this is because there's not as many daylight hours in the winter, or maybe it’s the fact that it's just so cold! I wrote in my Christmas Blog that this is the first year we have not gone somewhere sunny in January. It is definitely taking a toll on my brain. I'm not sure if it is the fact that I have had to work more hours recently, or that I have not been able to go outside as much as I'm used to, but this has been a difficult season for me.

A couple of days ago, I found myself arguing with my wife over a very small thing. I found myself complaining about a ton of different things that were happening in my life. I'm sure I was being an ogre and not a nice guy to be around. Typically, I'm an optimist and generally happy. Over the last couple of weeks, I don't think that's been the case. There's been a lot of challenges going on in our lives, and we've been having to push through more than usual. It just seems harder to be happy right now.

This led me to think about depression and darkness in general. Millions of people suffer from seasonal depression, also called winter blues. The number one way this is treated is with a special lamp called a sunlamp. You spend time sitting in front of this lamp and allowing the light to shine on you. This is supposed to make you feel better during the winter months. This treatment is dealing with the increased amount of darkness, by using light.

In the Bible, it is clear that the enemy is the prince of darkness. John 10:10 is explicit in what the enemy’s plan is for us. It is to kill, steal and destroy us. How does he do this? He tries to surround us with darkness. The other half of that verse, however, is what Jesus has planned for us. And that plan is to bring us an abundant life. How do you get there?
How do you go from kill, steal and destroy, to having an abundant life? How do you go from darkness to light? The Bible is clear. You put on the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness. You begin to count your blessings, yes count them one by one. Count your many blessings and see what God has done! In doing this, the light begins to first peek, then break in, and then flood in! Darkness begins to lift from my mind and I realize how trivial and even stupid the things were that were holding me down. I begin to thank Him and praise Him for what He has done, is doing and will do. What happened then? Breakthrough! Breakthrough is what happened! It wasn't right away; it took a few days, but breakthrough came. I've had a succession of seemingly out of the blue blessings that came into my life.

The truth is, God knew the breakthrough was coming. The enemy will often try to throw everything at you, including the kitchen sink, to try to stop you from getting to your breakthrough. Don't stop! Don't let him do it. Count your blessings; count them one by one! Count your many blessings and see what God has done! Start praising and worshipping Him. Get under that light that is shining! I believe you are right there, right at your breakthrough!

Thank you for reading and God bless