Winston Churchill, famous for his quips and quotes, once said:  “There is nothing more exhilarating than to be shot at without result.”

In other words, it aids our spirit of gladness and thanksgiving to consider all the things that have not happened to us.

One day, according to a time-honored story, St. Francis of Assisi longed to see his brothers. They agreed to meet in a remote monastery in the Umbrian mountains of central Italy. After arriving and enjoying their reunion, each reported what he had experienced on the road.

One Franciscan brother who had traveled on muleback said: “God protected me in a miraculous way. When I was crossing a narrow bridge over a deep mountain gorge, the mule jumped. I fell and narrowly escaped falling over the wall of the bridge into the gorge. God by his love saved my life.”

A second brother said: “I had to cross a river and I slipped and fell. The waters carried me down the river. But God in his grace provided a tree which had fallen across the river. I could grasp a branch of that tree and pull myself ashore, thanks to God’s miraculous mercy.”

Then St. Francis said: “Let us thank God for his wonderful works. I did experience the greatest miracle of all on my way. I had the smoothest, most pleasant, completely uneventful trip.”

We should rejoice in every safe and uneventful trip as gladly as if saved from a near disaster.  Thank the Lord for His constant oversight.

PS – The Francis stoy is from John H. Townsend, in Pulpit Digest, September/October 1979, p. 53.  On a personal note, I’m speaking this weekend at a retreat in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.  Be in prayer for Joshua Rowe as he preaches at TDF, and for our all-music night of praise and worship.

A thankful, cheerful spirit can be cultivated by considering what might have been, and then rejoicing that it wasn’t.  There’s an article on CNN today about the emotions of the passengers aboard Northwest Flight 253, now that some time has passed since they were nearly killed by the Christmas Day Underwear Bomber.  One of the passengers, Roey Rosenblith, 25, had a great thing to say.  This is very preach-able (except maybe for the beer reference).

Though this might sound strange, for me personally almost getting killed 30,000 feet above the earth by an al Qaeda terrorist has been one of the best things that’s ever happened to me.  Now being alive, seeing the blue sky, hearing the rain fall, eating a delicious meal, drinking a beer with a friend – everyday stuff just feels like an amazing gift…  I feel as though I’ve somehow cheated death and against all odds been given this gift of continuing my life.

I actually have my boarding pass framed now, and it’s sitting on my desk, right next to a little prayer book I keep with its page turned to Psalm 23.  I keep it there simply to remind myself that whatever happens to me, things could always be far worse.

It reminds me of an incident from the life of St. Francis of Assisi, a quote from Winston Churchill, and from a story from a Dale Carnegie book.  I’ll post those over the next few day.  It’ll make a good multi-part series on the joys of not being killed.

Speaking of the weekend, I’m leaving today to speak at a Pigeon Forge retreat sponsored by my friends, Jerry and Linda Scarborough, of Columbus, Georgia.  It’s a beautiful weekend with lots of sunshine, and I’m looking forward to the trip.  Thanks to all who hold us up in prayer.

Today at the Alabama Ministers and Workers Conference, I shared the six C’s of guidance, and someone suggested it for a journal entry, so here it is.  Let me hasten to add that here at the Dothan conference, Randy Sawyer’s messages and those of Cliff Donaho have been excellent.  Thanks to both of them for their encouragement!  And my thanks to Heath Hubbard for driving down here with me and for his help and fellowship.

1. Commit your decision to the Lord in prayer.
2. Open the Covers of the Bible and seek Scriptural direction.
3. Seek the Counsel of those who know more about the matter than you do, for “in a multitude of counselors there is safety.”
4. See how the Circumstances are leading
5. Very often, an inner Conviction will begin to develop. The Holy Spirit helps us instinctively know what to do
6. Finally, Contemplate the issue. Think it through. God gave each of us a brain, and He expects us to use it to arrive at a wise and sanctified decision.

Katrina and I had a very moving experience yesterday that we’ll never forget.  I officiated the funeral of Corporal Jeremy McLaren, 28, the first officer in the history of Spring Hill, Tennessee, to die in the line of duty.  His mother, Lois, attends our church and is in Katrina’s LifeGroup.  It was a long and emotional service, especially when Jeremy’s five-year-old nephew, dressed in a full police uniform, was inducted into the Spring Hill Police Force, a moment that brought the toughest officers to tears.

The motorcade to the cemetery was unlike anything I’ve ever experienced.  There were hundreds of patrol cars in front of us and behind us, all with flashing blue lights.  As far as we could see, it was like a twinkling ribbon of blue. We processed through Spring Hill, tracing Jeremy’s patrol route one last time.  On the streets, groups of citizens gathered waving flags or with hands over their hearts.  Many were standing at attention and saluting.  City workers came out of their offices, children from their schools, men from their barber shops, families from the stores and restaurants.  All of them stood at attention while the hearse, surrounded by motorcycle escorts, passed by.  The fire department raised ladders on their trucks and suspended large American flags through which we passed.  Mourners stood on overpasses, waving flags.  Traffic was shut down on the freeways with cops standing at attention beside their vehicles at every ramp, saluting their fallen partner.

At the cemetery, Jeremy was honored with a rider-less horse, a full honor guard, a 21-gun salute, a helicopter flyover, bagpipes, a bugler playing taps from a nearby hillside, and a radio last call.

In my remarks at the funeral, I said that Jeremy had chosen a noble and proud profession; he was clad in blue and he served with honor.  He was part of a force that guards us day and night, keeps us safer than we know, and on whom our lives depend.  We can credit him with a job well-done and a life well-lived. And at the request of his family, I was able to present the Gospel to two thousand law enforcement officials and community leaders.  I spoke from John 11, so pray that the Word of God will bear fruit in someone’s life.

And as the Lord lays it on your heart, please remember his family in prayer.

Wade Kilgore and I are just back from Birmingham where I had the opportunity to speak at the company meeting for Cook’s Pest Control. This is an industry leader, respected throughout the South, an established company led by wise and gifted folks. I spoke about coffee, specifically about starting each day with a cup of JFG:  Joy, Friendliness, and Gratitude.

I thought it’d be appropriate to share a couple of coffee stories, but they might have been a little lukewarm.  I’d like to see what you think.

The other day, Jack told me he’d gone down to Wal-Mart to get a new coffee-maker, and he found one with lots of features.  Returning home, he pulled the thing out of the box, took off the wrapping, and read the directions.  It said you could put the coffee in the basket, put the water in the back of the machine, set the timer, go to bed, and when you got up your coffee would be ready.  I saw Jack a few days later and asked him how he liked his coffee maker.  “Oh,” he said, “it’s wonderful except for one thing.  I don’t understand why I have to go to bed every time I want to make a pot of coffee.”

I tried a cup of his coffee. “This coffee tastes like dirt,” I said.  “That’s funny,” Jack replied, “It was just ground this morning.”

You’d think people would be rolling out of their chairs over those jokes, wouldn’t you???

There’s a fascinating article in today’s New York Times that has tremendous significance from a spiritual perspective.  It’s about that fact that people die in the Philippines whenever they hear Frank Sinatra’s song, “I Did It My Way.”

 I’m a minor Sinatra fan and sometimes play one of his albums on my iPod while cooking or cleaning around the house.  But I’ve never liked “My Way.”  It’s my least-favorite Sinatra tune – morbid, fatalistic, sad, openly arrogant, humanistic, and defiant.  It’s about a man who is dying and, looking back over his life, feels good about the fact that he has done things his own way.

 Yes, there were times, I’m sure you knew

When I bit off more than I could chew;

But through it all, when there was doubt

I ate it up and spit it out.

I faced it all and I stood tall and did it my way.

 Well, there’s something about this song that releases an unhealthy, self-assertive energy in bars and karaoke restaurants in the Philippines. People get into fights and literally start killing others while the music’s going. This song has now been stricken from many nightclubs there because it fuels deadly fights.  No one knows how many people have been killed during the singing of “My Way,” but the police have a subcategory of crime dubbed “My Way Killings.”

 I don’t need to add that the “My Way” philosophy is the very essence of anti-Christian thinking.  As believers, our aim is to please Christ in every way.  We don’t come to the point of death and look back over our lives with fatalistic defiance.  We want to be able to say, “I have finished the work You gave me to do.”

 Our attitude is: “I did it His Way.”

During this morning’s Quiet Time, I was finishing a book by F. B. Meyer entitled The Christ-life for Your Life, and his final chapter is entitled “Heart-Rest.”  As Christians, wrote Meyer, we should have perpetual rest in our souls and spirits, and he uses two analogies from nature to describe it.  It is a…

Rest that is full of work; but like the cyclone, all the atoms of which revolve in turbulent motion around the central cavity of rest, so do all the activities of God revolve around His deepest heart which is tranquil and serene.

And it is possible, if you and I learn the lesson amid anxiety and sorrow and trial and pressure of work always to carry a heart so peaceful, so still, so serene as to be like the depth of the Atlantic which is not disturbed by the turbulent winds that sweep its surface.

As we grow in Christ and increasingly learn to rest in Him, those word-pictures become more and more real in our experience.  It wonderful to enjoy rest that’s full of work.

PS – If you want to view last Sunday’s sermon in Jackson, Mississippi, clink here and select the sermon, “The Lord’s My Shepherd—That’s Enough.”

Katrina and I are in Jackson, Mississippi.  Tonight I had the opportunity of speaking in a seminary class meeting at Mississippi College, then to a large and lively group in the school’s auditorium for a Red Sea Rules Rally, arranged by Dr. Lee Cope.  Thanks to all who came!  Tomorrow night and Sunday morning and evening, I’ll be at Jackson’s First Baptist Church.  If you’re in the area, please join us.  I love this church and it’s pastor, Stan Buckley.  What a friendly place!  What a great work in the heart of Jackson!

I’ve come to Numbers 9 in my morning devotions, and I’ve been impressed by how confidently God guides us.  For the Israelites, His guidance took visible form in the mysterious cloud, which at night turned to fire.  Whenever this cloud lifted from above the Tent, the Israelites set out; whenever it settled, the Israelites camped.  When the cloud remained over the tabernacle a long time, the Israelites obeyed the Lord’s order and did not set out.  Sometimes the cloud was over the tabernacle only a few days; sometimes only one night; sometimes a year.  But whether by day or by night, whenever the cloud lifted, they set out.  Whether the cloud stayed over the tabernacle for two days or a month or a year, the Israelites would camp; when the cloud moved, they moved.

Both our steps and our stops are ordered by the Lord.  He goes before us, yet stays with us.  Knowing the future, He can guide from day to day.  We no longer have His visible cloud above us, for we have His invisible Spirit within us and His infallible Word in our hands.  We have His providential ordering of our circumstances, and His promise to direct us in all our ways.

If we seem “stuck” for the moment, even if it appears to be for a prolonged period, we’re better off to remain stuck in God’s will than to wander off on our own.  Sometimes we can make a lot of progress when we’re standing still, though it doesn’t appear so at the time.

If as best you can determine, you’re in God’s will, don’t worry about the pace of things.  Just enjoy one day at a time, and let Him lead you step by step according to His divine agenda.  The Lord knows the way through the wilderness.

PS – If you’re in the Jackson, Mississippi area, I’m speaking Thursday night at an event at a local college, then Friday night and all day Sunday at Jackson’s First Baptist Church.  I’d love to see you there.

If you were asked to describe your church, what phrases would you use?  In 1 Peter 2, the apostle Peter (who had helped launch the era of the church with his sermon on the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2)  uses eight phrases to describe the Lord’s church on this planet, and each word of each phrase is terribly inportant.  We are:

1. Living stones – verse 5
2. A spiritual house – verse 5
3. A holy priesthood – verse 5
4. A chosen generation – verse 9
5. A royal priesthood – verse 9
6. A holy nation – verse 9
7. His own special people – verse 9
8. The people of God – verse 10

And Peter gives us two great reasons for our existence on this earth.

1. To offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ – verse 5
2. That you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light – verse 10

You can hammer out a powerful sermon or Bible lesson (or a series of them) from Peter’s view of your church and mine, here in 1 Peter 2.  Check it out.