Have you ever pulled up to a fast food drive-thru and placed your order, but had a hard time understanding or being understood by the voice on the other end.  Perhaps you even thought to yourself…”Man, it seems like that guy is a thousand miles away.”  Little do you know.

The McDonald’s in Cape Girardeau, Missouri has a super-efficient drive-thru.  In fact, they are so good, their drive-thru is two lanes wide.  They only make mistakes on 2% percent of their orders.  Honestly, I feel like about 1 out of every 3 times I hit a drive-thru they forget my Filet Mignon.

Anyway, this MickeyD’s in Missouri is doing a great job delivering prompt, courteous, and accurate service even though the voice coming out of their pull-up menu is sitting at a computer in…Colorado.  This particular company actually handles orders for seven different restaurants.

That’s right, you roll up in your fully pimped 1996 Escort and place your order for a cheeseburger Happy Meal with an orange soda and some dude 900 miles away says “You’re total will be $4.76.  Please pull around.”

McDonalds reports order time is down 30 seconds.  For a company specializing in “fast food” that means thirty more cars can visit the golden arches in an hour.  That’s a big deal.

…there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.  – Proverbs 18:24b

That “friend” of course, is Jesus.  And if there is any single entity in all of existence who actually has the ability to be 900 miles away and still feed you or be eleven time zones away and still respond to your call for help, it’s Jesus.

The amazing thing about the power to be everywhere at once is that God can handle both your problem and mine simultaneously while you read this chapter and while I do whatever it is I might be doing while you read this chapter.

That’s why we recognize Him as GOD…because He is all-powerful and all-knowing and this huge immeasurable being, but He is also…a friend who sticks closer than a brother.  Now that’s a God I can trust.  That’s a God I can serve.  That’s a God I can surrender my life to knowing that my life couldn’t possibly be in more capable hands because my God and yours is everywhere while also being right there in the room with you right now.

At first glance, perhaps you don’t see Him.  With an initial tuning of the ear, maybe you don’t hear Him.  But make no mistake, He is with you always.  Best friends always are.

Read more about this in John 3:16-17, John 14:20-21, John 15:16

I’m sure you’ve got that little statement in small print on the side mirrors of your car unless you’re a bad driver and knocked your side mirrors off at the mall trying to park next to that behemoth F350.

The sign on the mirror is a warning.  The stuff you’re seeing in your mirror is really closer than you think. Be careful…that semi truck is not way back there, it’s right back there.

The other day,  I left my home in Atlanta, drove to the airport, got on a plane, and flew to Chicago.  As the pilot got close, he told us that if we looked out the left side, we could see downtown.  If we looked out the right side, we could see the Great Lakes.

He descended down through the clouds and I got a glimpse of the city, and can I just tell you that I wasn’t all that impressed.  It just looked like a bunch of buildings to me.  I mean, I’ve seen tons of buildings before.  No big deal.  From high up in the sky, they were actually pretty small.

But as we got closer, I could start making out some detail.  I saw Wrigley Field, where the Cubs play.  I saw the Sears Tower, which at one point was the tallest building in the United States.  I could start to see cars, and then I saw the airport.  The closer we got to the runway, the more detail I could make out.  As we were just a few thousand feet up and a few miles away, Chicago got bigger to me.

Of course, the size of the city didn’t change…just my position in relation to it.  And I began to understand this principle…the closer you get to something, the bigger it becomes.

From far away, a truck looks like a speck.  From 3 feet away, it looks like something that would really hurt if it rolled over your foot.  From far away, a building looks like a lego block.  From the sidewalk, it looks like an imposing wall of concrete.  The size of the building never changes, but as I get closer, it becomes more impressive.

That’s exactly how we are with God.  The closer we get to God, the bigger He becomes.  When we’re far away from God, He may seem small to us.  Prayers may seem to go unanswered.  We may not be all that impressed.  But that’s not because God’s not impressive or because God’s not listening, it’s because we’re too far away.

The closer we get to God, the bigger He becomes.  If God is not amazing to you, maybe it has less to do with His character and more to do with your position.

Consider this story from the book of Exodus…

Moses had led God’s people out of Egypt and was marching them towards the Promised Land.  They saw God send mighty plagues to Egypt and marched across the sea on dry land.  They saw the might and power of God first hand, with their own eyes.  As soon as they crossed the Red Sea, God decided to give Moses the Ten Commandments.

Moses goes up to the top of Mount Sinai and leaves all the people at the base of the mountain under the watchful eye of Aaron.  It’s there on the mountain that Moses meets with God.  What a meeting!

While Moses was chatting with God on the top of the mountain, the people below started getting worried that things were taking too long.  They started getting restless and that restlessness turned into action.  They asked Aaron to make them a new god out of gold.  How quickly they forgot about the power of God!

So on one hand, you have Moses meeting personally with God and experiencing the greatness of God, and on the other hand you have the Israelites wandering farther and farther away from God and trying to give up on the whole process.

One man saw how big God really was.  The rest of the people lost sight.

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Tell the Israelites this: ‘You have seen for yourselves that I have spoken to you from heaven:  Do not make any gods to be alongside me; do not make for yourselves gods of silver or gods of gold…Wherever I cause my name to be honored, I will come to you and bless you. – Exodus 20:22-24

The same God was ruler over all.  But Moses understood because He was close to God.  The people turned to worshipping a golden cow because they were far away from God.

It’s all a matter of perspective.  The great city of Chicago seems pretty small from 30,000 feet.  Try walking from one side to the other and you’ll see how big it really is.  The great God of the Universe seems really small if you don’t know him, but walk with Him everyday, and you’ll experience His power.

If you want to read a little more, check out Hebrews 10:22, Jeremiah 29:13, and Matthew 6:33.

Remember when you were a kid when you could paint by numbers.  It’s really not that hard to create a beautiful painting if all you have to do is apply the right color to the right section. Someone has already done the hard work…you’re just left to fill in the blanks. I’m no artist, but even I could paint by numbers.

Number 2…make that red.
Number 76…that will be green.
Number 99…something in a chartreuse would be sassy.

All you have to do is follow the directions. Stay in the lines. Do what you’re told. Paint by numbers.

And so there are a lot of Christians, young and old, who practice faith by numbers. They don’t expect to really hear from God, they just do their best to follow the directions. Somewhere deep down, they think they need to live right, think right, or do right in order to be OK with God. Keep the 10 Commandments. Never mind that we can’t really remember all of the commandments, but hey…I’ve never killed anyone…so I’ve got that going for me.

Commandment 1…Have no other gods before me. Well…I hope that doesn’t mean money, jobs, or P90X.

Commandment 2…Don’t make any images. That’s not that hard…I don’t have any religious statues…does a Barak Obama bobblehead count?

Commandment 3…Don’t take the Lord’s name in vain. If that means don’t cuss, then that’s pretty hard.  A few things slip out every now and then, but it’s only when I’m angry.

Commandment 4…Honor the Sabbath. I don’t really know what that is, but I do go to church, so that must count for something.  Surely I get some points with God for enduring one whole sermon a week.

Don’t steal, don’t lie, don’t covet your neighbor’s wife or donkey. It’s like God is laying out the numbers and all you have to do is fill in the proper sections.  Play by the rules and stay in the lines and God will say “Good job little buddy.”

Faith by numbers…get 6 out of 10, and maybe God will grade on a curve. Give 10% of your income to God and you can book your ticket to Heavens-ville.  Just color in the lines.

The problem with this whole scenario is that you end up with a painting that is in no way, shape, or form original to you or representative of the work God wants to do in you. It’s really someone else’s idea.  You were told where to paint and what color to use.  Filling in the blanks or coloring in the squares doesn’t make a masterpiece….it just means you know how to count.

And faith by numbers doesn’t make you a true Christ-follower. There’s more to painting than numbers, and there’s more to Christianity than rules and regulations. It’s a living, breathing God who desires a living, breathing relationship…with you.

There is no such thing as faith by numbers!  You just can’t put little checks by certain Bible commands and hope to have more checkmarks than empty blanks.  There is no “points toward Heaven” system which allows you to rack up by going to church or giving money to the poor.  It’s not enough to go to church or know the Bible.

Christianity is not a religion…it’s a relationship with Jesus Christ. God is way bigger than what we can comprehend and He certainly can’t be contained within the boundaries of some “system” of faith. Listen to the words of the prophet…

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways,”declares the LORD.  “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.”  – Isaiah 55:8-9

That is God’s way of politely letting us know that He is Supreme and He is playing a different ball-game altogether.  Don’t try to figure Him out. Don’t try to make faith make sense. That’s why they call it “faith.”  And it is beautiful and original.

Read more on faith at 2 Samuel 7:22, Psalm 18:25, 71:16, and 89:24, and Proverbs 16:6.

It is the nightmare of the justice system and the source of countless movie plots: innocent man wrongly imprisoned for crime he did not commit. For one man, the nightmare came true and he found himself playing the part of the wrongly condemned man. His name is William Dillon and he was wrongly convicted of murder and spent 27 years in jail.

He was found innocent and released from jail in 2008 because of DNA testing that wasn’t available at the time of the original trial. It wasn’t that the police chose not to use DNA testing when Dillon was arrested, it wasn’t available. The testing techniques that made DNA testing viable in the courtroom setting weren’t invented 1984 and Dillon was convicted in 1981.

The story got me to thinking how much our world has changed in the past 30 years or so. In almost every are of life, what was cutting edge and top of the line in 1981 is ancient and nearly forgotten now.

• In music the eight track was followed by the cassette player, the CD player, and now the mp3 player.
• The VHS became (very briefly) the laser disc which became the DVD which became the Blu-Ray.
• In medicine, what once were major life threatening operations are now done as routine outpatient procedures.
• Computers that once filled multiple rooms had less computing power than notebook sized tablets.
• Even our beverages changed as New Coke replaced……..wait……scratch that one.

In almost every area of our life in the last 30 years, the motto has been “Out with the old and in with the new” because new has not just been new, but new and improved.

There is one thing that hasn’t been changed, hasn’t been improved upon in the last 30 or even 2000 years.

The Gospel.

It is still as powerful, as relevant, and as effective as it ever has been. And as much as we like to talk about how our methods in the church change with the times, the truth is that once you peel away the fluff of music style, fashion, and jargon, the gospel is still proclaimed the same way it always has been.

One follower of Christ proclaiming the glory of God in the life, death, and resurrection of His Son Jesus to all who will listen.

Thirty years from now the things that are new and cutting edge will become ancient and mostly forgotten. New and improved will continue to reign in most areas of life.

But not in the church.

The gospel is the unchanging bedrock we rest our life upon. This is how we overcome an ever changing, “New and Improved!” world, by resting in the one thing that never changes: the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. — Hebrews 13:8

Today’s post comes from Sheldon.  Sheldon Clowdus is follower of Christ, a husband, and a father of 4 children.  He would love for God to radically transform his hometown of Rome, GA with the gospel.  He writes at allblogsleadtorome.com.

I’m sure you’ve got that little statement in small print on the side mirrors of your car unless you’re a bad driver and knocked your side mirrors off at the mall trying to park next to that behemoth F350.

The sign on the mirror is a warning.  The stuff you’re seeing in your mirror is really closer than you think. Be careful…that semi truck is not way back there, it’s right back there.

The other day, I flew to Chicago to attend a conference.  I left my home in Atlanta, drove to the airport, got on a plane, and flew to Chicago.  As the pilot got close, he told us that if we looked out the left side, we could see downtown.  If we looked out the right side, we could see the Great Lakes.

He descended down through the clouds and I got a glimpse of the city, and can I just tell you that I wasn’t all that impressed.  It just looked like a bunch of buildings to me.  I mean, I’ve seen tons of buildings before.  No big deal.  From high up in the sky, they were actually pretty small.

But as we got closer, I could start making out some detail.  I saw Wrigley Field, where the Cubs play.  I saw the Sears Tower, which at one point was the tallest building in the United States.  I could start to see cars, and then I saw the airport.  The closer we got to the runway, the more detail I could make out.  As we were just a few thousand feet up and a few miles away, Chicago got bigger to me.

Of course, the size of the city didn’t change…just my position in relation to it.  And I began to understand this principle…the closer you get to something, the bigger it becomes.

From far away, a truck looks like a speck.  From 3 feet away, it looks like something that would really hurt if it rolled over your foot.  From far away, a building looks like a lego block.  From the sidewalk, it looks like an imposing wall of concrete.  The size of the building never changes, but as I get closer, it becomes more impressive.

That’s exactly how we are with God.  The closer we get to God, the bigger He becomes.  When we’re far away from God, He may seem small to us.  Prayers may seem to go unanswered.  We may not be all that impressed.  But that’s not because God’s not impressive or because God’s not listening, it’s because we’re too far away.

The closer we get to God, the bigger He becomes.  If God is not amazing to you, maybe it has less to do with His character and more to do with your position.

Consider this story from the book of Exodus…

Moses had led God’s people out of Egypt and was marching them towards the Promised Land.  They saw God send mighty plagues to Egypt and marched across the sea on dry land.  They saw the might and power of God first hand, with their own eyes.  As soon as they crossed the Red Sea, God decided to give Moses the Ten Commandments.

Moses goes up to the top of Mount Sinai and leaves all the people at the base of the mountain under the watchful eye of Aaron.  It’s there on the mountain that Moses meets with God.  What a meeting!

While Moses was chatting with God on the top of the mountain, the people below started getting worried that things were taking too long.  They started getting restless and that restlessness turned into action.  They asked Aaron to make them a new god out of gold.  How quickly they forgot about the power of God!

So on one hand, you have Moses meeting personally with God and experiencing the greatness of God, and on the other hand you have the Israelites wandering farther and farther away from God and trying to give up on the whole process.

One man saw how big God really was.  The rest of the people lost sight.

Exodus 20:22-23, 24b Then the Lord said to Moses, “Tell the Israelites this: ‘You have seen for yourselves that I have spoken to you from heaven:  Do not make any gods to be alongside me; do not make for yourselves gods of silver or gods of gold…Wherever I cause my name to be honored, I will come to you and bless you.

The same God was ruler over all.  But Moses understood because He was close to God.  The people turned to worshipping a golden cow because they were far away from God.

It’s all a matter of perspective.  The great city of Chicago seems pretty small from 30,000 feet.  Try walking from one side to the other and you’ll see how big it really is.  The great God of the Universe seems really small if you don’t know him, but walk with Him everyday, and you’ll experience His power.

Read a little more from Hebrews 10:22, Jeremiah 29:13, Matthew 6:33

In July of 2005, a 7-year-old boy went on vacation with his uncle, aunt, and cousin. Upon returning to their hotel after a long day out, the young boy wanted to go for a swim in the hotel’s pool. He got changed and ran down just ahead of the rest of the family. By the time his family got to the pool, the little boy was nowhere to be found.

911 was called and law enforcement began an immediate search by interviewing people at the hotel pool before spreading out over a 3 mile radius from the hotel by foot and with helicopter assistance. The search continued for a couple of hours before the boy’s body was finally found.

At the bottom of the hotel swimming pool.

It was reported that there were between 15 and 30 guests either in or around the pool while this little 7 year old boy was drowning. It happened right among them, but nobody even noticed. The Sheriff’s Department was unsure whether a lifeguard was on duty when the boy drowned. His death was ruled an accident.

Isn’t somebody responsible? There were maybe 2 dozen people at the pool when this kid quietly slipped under the water’s surface and yet nobody even noticed?

Forgive me, but unlike the Sheriff’s office’s ruling of “accidental death”, we are all responsible to see that the folks around us are drowning.

Listen to Jesus’ own words in Luke 15:4-7 “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine on the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.”

What a great word picture Christ gives us here talking about God’s heart in relation to lost sheep. Even if a man has 100 sheep, wouldn’t he still leave them to go after the one who has disappeared? Every time.

Maybe you’re in a solid place spiritually. That means you’ve got responsibility. For the sake of His children, God wants you to climb up on the lifeguard stand and keep watch.

Often times we give lifeguards a hard time. We belittle the importance of the job…after all, they’re working on the tan…hanging out by the pool…sipping on a nice lemonade…and getting paid to do it. We don’t pay proper respect to the guys and ladies who take the seat on top of the stand…until something goes wrong. And then we realize how vital it is to have someone keeping watch. We realize how much more we can enjoy the sunshine and the water when someone has the responsibility of our watch-care.

See, there are people all around you. Some are struggling to stay afloat. And others are drowning. If you’re solid with the Lord, then He needs you to put on some sunscreen, grab your whistle, and take the perch. Like a shepherd watching over the flock, protecting against the overcoming waves.

Read more at 1 Chronicles 16:23, Ezekiel 34:16, Psalm 13:5, and Luke 15:8

This post is written by John Evans.

Last week, Google updated their logo as a tribute to guitar legend Les Paul.  The guitar-looking logo was playable, and apparently, visitors to Google’s site really liked it.  You can see it here.

The average Google user spent 26 seconds more on the Google home page.  That may not sound like a lot, but when you consider just how many people use Google, it means that there were more than 10.7 million collective hours spent fiddling with a guitar logo.  Add it all up, and that’s a lot of time.

If these employees were on company time, this kind of entertainment cost the world $268 million.  So we’re talking about a lot of time AND a lot of money.

This fun news story illustrates an important principle:  A little can quickly become a lot.

It’s true of negative things:

• Just a few minutes on an inappropriate website turns into a lifestyle of addiction.
• A few minutes spent with a co-worker becomes a relationship that destroys your family.
• $5 chips at the blackjack table becomes a lost paycheck.

But it’s also true of positive things:

• Fifteen minutes reading your Bible everyday turns into a lifetime of faith and following Jesus.
• Just a few dollars invested every month becomes a sizable retirement nest egg.
• A sabbath day every week becomes a lifestyle of health and peace.
• Going to the gym three days a week has a cumulative effect.

Minor decisions can have a major impact.

Matthew 13:31-32 says, “He told them another parable; “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field.  Though it is the smallest of all your seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and perch in its branches.”

A mustard seed is one of the smallest seeds, but it becomes a large tree.  What starts small, becomes large over time.  When you make the right decisions, even if they are small, they have a compounding effect.  It’s how reading bedtime stories to your elementary children every night cultivates a healthy relationship with your teenager.  It’s how the small decision to do the right thing leads to a life of integrity.

A little bit of preparation, compounded over time, yields desired results.

In Luke 16:10, Jesus says,  “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much.”

The Bible says that we must be faithful in the small things, not just desire the big things.  In fact, it’s properly executing the small things that prepares us for larger missions in life.

If you want to dramatically improve your family situation, save money for retirement or become a better person, start small.   Five minutes here, one lunch-meeting there.