Need to Know

Have you ever watched one of those movies with all the top secret government agents, doing top secret--better that the public sector doesn't know--kind of stuff?

Inevitably, one of the agents is furious when he finds out that he was left out of the information loop about some aspect of the operation.

When he indignantly asks the question,

"Why wasn't I informed about this?"

he is simply told,

"That information is shared on a need-to-know basis only."

From the uninformed agent's viewpoint, he probably figures he should know everything about what is going on in order to better do his job.

But from the perspective of those in charge, he only really needs to know that portion that applies to his part, and he needs to trust the masterminds of the operation to be able to bring it all together nicely (before the movie ends, of course--unless they are setting things up for a sequel!)

I think that it is human nature to want to know things that in reality we would probably be better off not knowing. It's that curiosity thing that most of us have.

The National Enquirer tabloid used to use a slogan that went something like, "Enquiring minds want to know!"

But does being slammed on every side with accounts of the misdeeds of celebrities really help us in life and the challenges we face? Or does it have a numbing effect on our sensibilities?

Is that the kind of information that, at the very least, does not benefit us and, at the very worst, subtly draws us into paths of self-destruction?

And isn't that true of much of the information that we might seek to know?

That also might be something to think about the next time that you are pleading with God to show you things concerning your future. Would you maybe be better off not knowing those things just yet?

Anyway, I think that God often operates like the "government masterminds" of my fictitious movie. I think that He only lets us know what we need to know, and wants us to trust Him to take charge of the overall picture of our lives.

I have no doubt that many a Christian who has accomplished great things for the Kingdom of Heaven would not have done so had they known, from the beginning, everything that they would face along the way.

And just one more thought: Unlike a government mastermind, isn't it nice to be able to actually trust the Mastermind of our destiny to be working at all times for our good.

"For we walk by faith, not by sight."
- II Corinthians 5:7 (NKJ)

Two Lives, Forever Changed

Suddenly, everything changed for Aaron.

In an instant, because of a bad choice that someone else had made, his life was forever altered, and he and his mom were left struggling to live.

They had become victims of a senseless act of road rage, by a man who was having a bad day. He had twice rammed his pickup truck into the side of another pickup truck, in revenge for having been cut off. The other driver lost control, crossed the median, and ran head on into the car Aaron’s mom was driving.

Rescue workers that arrived on the horrific scene at first thought his mom had not survived, but later realized that she was barely clinging to life. They struggled to free them from the wreckage--wreckage so severe that they couldn’t tell whether or not there was anyone else in the back seat of the crumpled vehicle.

Fortunately, there was not. Aaron’s 17 month old half sister was not with them.

Ten year old Aaron never saw his mom again. She lived only nine more days, in a coma.

In an instant, with no time to react, helpless to keep it from happening, everything had changed for Aaron.



On that very same day, May 11th, another life was suddenly changed forever.

Richard’s life was changed, not by the uncontrollable actions of another, but rather by his own actions, his own decisions. You see, Richard is the man that caused the accident.

He now faces up to 50 years in prison for three felony charges which include vehicular homicide, leaving the scene of an accident involving a death and reckless driving involving serious bodily injury.

Perhaps even more significantly, he faces a lifetime of knowing that his actions, his lack of self-control, left a woman dead, a boy fighting for life, a husband alone and a baby motherless. How would you feel knowing that?

I can’t help but wonder what he is thinking now. Is he only just absorbed in his own troubles, afraid of the things that will happen to him next?

Or does he feel remorse? Does he find it hard to live with himself, as I would if I were in his place? Is he reaching out to God for forgiveness and mercy? Does he pray for Aaron’s recovery?

There are so many Christians praying for Aaron to heal and to live. Each day their prayers are heard and answered as Aaron continues to surprise doctors who never thought he would . . . or never thought he could . . . do this or that.

And while they pray for Aaron they also struggle with their feelings of anger, disgust and hurt for what this man has done. They struggle because what has happened has shaken them down to the core of what they believe.

They struggle because in part they want justice, judgment, and maybe even revenge against the man that caused this awful tragedy.

Yet deep down, they know that the same God that loves Aaron, also loves Richard, every bit as much. They know that they, themselves, are in need of a savior, no less than Richard is in need of that same savior. They know that in order to be forgiven, they must forgive and they know that unforgiveness in their own hearts, will hinder their prayers.

It is so much easier to pray for the innocent victim.

But doesn’t God want us to pray for the guilty ones, too, so that they might find the same mercy . . . and grace . . . and salvation, that has so freely been given to us?

So my invitation to you is that you join me as I pray for Aaron, but also as I pray for all those like Richard, who need a touch from God just as much.




Heavenly Father, gracious God,

We come before You now with grateful hearts, for You are good and your mercy is forever.

We are thankful for Your great love and compassion for all of us. We are thankful that it is Your heart that none of us should perish.

We ask that You would lead us in Your ways, because all Your paths are truth.

We thank You for opening our hearts to receive Your love, because we know that as we do so, we are able to let Your love flow through us to others who need to know that same love.

By Your Spirit, Lord--that same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead--even right now, fill the room where Aaron is with Your presence, and bring Your healing power upon him as You continue to do in him what no man can do. Complete in him the work that You have begun so that he might be whole again, to the honor and praise of God. Cause comfort and strength to flow into his body, in the name of Jesus.

Father, we know there is not one of us without sin, so as we freely receive your forgiveness, help us to freely give our forgiveness to others.

We lift up to You now, those who need to know Your mercy and grace--people like Richard. Envelop them in Your love so they might sense Your presence with them and Your great love for them. Pour out Your mercy and grace upon them.

Draw them to Your side just as you continue to draw us. May they know the peace that passes understanding that can only come from knowing the Prince of Peace. And Lord, make us instruments of that peace.

And to You, God, we give all of our thanksgiving, all of our praise and all of our worship, for You alone are worthy!

We pray these things in the name of Jesus. AMEN!

Keeping It All About Him

One of the young ladies that I work with recently lost her dad to cancer, after a two year battle against the disease. After his passing, her family gathered together things that he had written as he worked through the challenges to his health, his family, his faith and his relationship with God, and made copies that they bound under the title, “Ramblings: One man’s thoughts on cancer, healing and the goodness of God,” by Mark Mayer.

I was privileged to be offered a copy which I have been reading over the past few days. His writings offer an interesting insight into his doubts and fears as well as the journey of his relationship with his Heavenly Father. What he wrote was refreshingly transparent, as he struggled with his own failures and frustrations as a pastor.

I have not read all of it yet, but I wanted to share one thing that he wrote about that made a big impression on me.

One of the things Mark did was to set about seeking divine healing. To that end he attended a healing conference in Miami.

While there he was touched by the “intense and uplifting worship” that he experienced. He wrote that while he was there he felt God impress a truth upon him in the form of a question. He stated that it was as if God was talking inside of his head asking, “Mark, you want the gift of healing, but do you want the giver of healing?” He further explained that he felt that God was telling him that he needed to seek His face more than he sought after his healing.

So it got me thinking about all the times we mortals make it all about us--what God should do for us--instead of making it all about Him. Far too often we approach God in our need, rather than as an expression of our love.

I am reminded about how the truest worship is all about Him, and how the best we can offer God in return for all that He has already done for us, is to love Him and give Him our praise and our worship.

But that’s exactly what He wants most from us--for us to come into His presence through our love, praise and worship of Him, just to be there, not to ask for anything.

In seeking Him with all our hearts, we will find that which we really need the very most.


“You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” Psalm 16:11 (NKJ)

Taking A Day Off From My Life

I just have a question for you.

When was the last time that you took a day off from your life?

I’m talking about a day off from all the “have to do’s,” “need to do’s,” and all the “really should do’s” that consume each one of us and make us forget that what we “have to do, need to do, and really should do” is take a day off from our life every so often, so that we are able to deal more effectively with all those many “things” in our lives that demand our attention.

In Genesis, the Bible gives us a clear example of the key role that rest should play in our lives, when it declares that God, Himself, rested on the seventh day from all that He had done to create the heavens and the earth.

And was it because He was tired? I don’t think so!

After all, the Bible also tells us in Isaiah 40:28 (NKJ), that the “everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, neither faints nor is weary.” No, I believe He rested to give us an example of how we need to rest, because unlike Him, we get tired!

It is also abundantly clear in the New Testament scriptures that Jesus followed the Father’s example, and took time to rest.

So that became my plan for today: To take a day off from my life.

I say that it became my plan because it didn’t start out that way.

I awoke this morning still carrying a burden of a multitude of worries and anxieties that had plagued me for most all of the workweek. Concerns about my personal life, my job, my future--both things that are within my ability to affect and things outside of my ability to control--weighed on me and frustrated me. I hadn’t really been very successful at allowing God to carry them for me.

I had gotten up and set about doing some things that I knew I “needed” to do, when I got a call from my brother. After “venting” some of my frustration on him, I made the decision to take my day in a different direction--one that could produce some positive results.

I put all those “things” on hold and set out on a course that would hopefully leave me rested and ready for my week ahead.

After pulling together some necessities for the day ahead that included my swimsuit, my MP3 player, some sunscreen, and a good, uplifting book to read, I headed for the pool at my apartment complex.

And so began a full day of peaceful rest, swimming, enjoying the warmth of the sun and the soft breezes, listening to uplifting worship music, and reading. I was soon absorbed in the book that I was reading--so much so that I finished the entire book, only then to realize that despite the sunscreen, I had slightly overexposed myself to the sun!

There are a lot of things that didn’t get done today, but I feel very good about how I spent the day, and how much more rested I feel.

Today was just a reminder to me, that while it is important to work, and to do so diligently, it is just as important to rest from that work, and give God a chance to speak to your heart.

And what about those things that were weighing on me and frustrating me earlier?

He's carrying those for me now.

So I hope that you, too, can make some time to rest, so that when you work, your work will be a nice reflection of your best efforts and not of your lack of adequate rest.

Trusting in a Great God

Have you ever known someone who seems to have a lot of faith in God, until something happens to them, or to a loved one? Then suddenly, they find themselves questioning how God could have let this happen?

The next thing you know they are mad at God. They are ready to “throw in the towel“--give up on God--just because things didn’t turn out the way that they thought that they should.

They begin to say things like, “If God really loved and cared about me, then He would never have ever let this happen!”

Maybe they go as far as cursing and screaming at God.

Disappointment, frustration, anger, and just plain not understanding overwhelm them.

I think that in part, we bring it on ourselves, because we are somehow geared to think that we need to be able to figure everything out. We think that we have to understand the whys of everything that happens.

We are all guilty at some time or another of trying to give God advice on how He should handle a particular situation. We figure out in our own minds the best resolution to our problems and then present it to God like a Christmas wish list, rather than just trusting that He knows what is best for us.

But if we could truly understand how great our God is, I think just maybe we would take a different approach in our relationship with God.

We need to begin to try to understand the greatness of God as demonstrated in all that He has created and surrounded us with.

“The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament shows His handiwork.” --Psalm 19:1 (NKJ)

We cannot possibly begin to grasp the greatness of His creation, the vastness of space, and the wonders of the Universe. Nor can we ever truly understand the intricate workings of our own bodies. So how can we hope to fully know the One that created it all, and fully understand His love for us?

In Ephesians 3, Paul prays that we “may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height--to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge.” Interestingly, he prays for us to comprehend something that passes knowledge.


Yes, we need to seek to understand. We should seek to have an intimate relationship with God. But above all, we must learn to trust Him no matter what comes our way. We must trust Him like Job did when he declared,

“Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him.” --Job 15:13a (NKJ)

It is what we are instructed to do in Proverbs, and it comes with a wonderful promise.

"Trust in the LORD with all your heart,
And lean not on your own understanding;
In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He shall direct your paths." --Proverbs 3:5-6 (NKJ)

In the very midst of all the hurt and confusion and pain, put your trust in Him, and even though what you are having to walk through may not change, He will give you the strength to go on. He will supply your every need!

Could it be that we don't think that God sees us and knows us completely?

“Have you not known?
Have you not heard?
The everlasting God, the LORD,
The Creator of the ends of the earth,
Neither faints nor is weary.
His understanding is unsearchable.
He gives power to the weak,
And to those who have no might He increases strength.
Even the youths shall faint and be weary,
And the young men shall utterly fall,
But those who wait on the LORD
Shall renew their strength;
They shall mount up with wings like eagles,
They shall run and not be weary,
They shall walk and not faint.” --Isaiah 40:28-31 (NKJ)

This day I invite you to experience for yourself the incredible peace that comes from trusting in a loving God.

Declaring The Marvelous Works Of God

It's been one week since my last blog post. One week since our beautiful granddaughter passed away. In fact, I received the news that she had died, while I was writing about her that Sunday, a week ago today.

This past week has been filled with lots of tears and lots of laughter, feelings of great loss and moments of great joy.

And in the stories told and re-told by my wife, who spent the last two hours of Elania's life by her side, I have found incredible peace, comfort, and wonderful victory.

In the last hours of her life, Elania so allowed God to fill her and move through her that those who came to comfort her, were comforted by her. Those who came to be strong for her, were made strong in her strength. Those who came to calm her fears, had their fears relieved by her fearlessness. In her passing there was great peace for all who would take it.

Over the almost nine years of Elania's short life, my wife and I, along with countless others, have prayed for her. In our prayers, one of the things that Nan and I would boldly declare was that Elania would "live and not die, and declare the marvelous works of God!"

In our minds, we saw her as a young adult, free from cancer, completely whole, ministering the good news of God's love to thousands of people all over the country, forever changing people's lives.

But, how many of you know that God sometimes sees things a little differently than we do? His ways and thoughts are higher than ours, and because He knows the beginning from the end, we can be at peace knowing ". . . that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose." --Romans 8:28 (NKJ)

You see He did answer our prayers. For in dying in Christ, Elania forever lives, free from cancer, completely whole. And through her life and in her passing, the marvelous works of God are being declared to thousands of people all over the country, who are being forever changed.

And that's only what's happening now! This has only just begun! The full story of her life and death hasn't even been told, yet. That story is for her Nana to write and to tell.

And in the days to come, she will write it and she will continue to tell it to all who will listen, again and again.

And if you ever read it or hear it, you will never be the same again. It simply is not possible to hear the story and not be changed!

Talk about making your life count for something! You did it, Elania! You did it!


I will praise You, O LORD, with my whole heart;
I will tell of all Your marvelous works.
I will be glad and rejoice in You;
I will sing praise to Your name, O Most High. --Psalm 9:1-2 (NKJ)

It's Okay To Be Done

“I’m done!” Elania announced to my wife, Nan, with a sigh.

Nan was rushing through the airport, several years ago, with her two grandchildren trying hard not to miss the connecting flight that would bring them back to Florida. With her baby grandson, Shane, in her arms, along with the all the paraphernalia that comes with traveling with a baby, she had been trying to encourage her three year old granddaughter to walk faster, when Elania decided she was too tired to go on.

And so, she told her “Nana” she was “done.”

“No, baby, you can’t be ‘done!’” Nan cried, more than a little panicked at the fact that Elania had just stopped right where she was. “Just a little further!”

After some pleading, Nan managed to convince her to push through and they made the flight.

During the year prior to coming to stay with us in Florida for a short time, Elania had proved herself to be quite a little fighter. She had been diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor. After surgery, chemotherapy and radiation treatments and a second surgery, things looked good for a complete recovery.

Life went on for the next several years, but then the cancer returned. More surgery, more chemotherapy, and surgery yet again, are the events that have marked her life over the past couple of years.

While recovering from the most recent surgery, and as she was about to begin yet another round of chemotherapy and radiation, she contracted an infection that left her too weak to proceed with the treatment. It was also discovered that small piece of the tumor that they not been able to remove during the last surgery, had grown aggressively.

There was nothing left to do, but leave her in God’s hands.

Yesterday, as she lay in her hospital bed, she told her dad that she hoped her mom would hurry up and get there because she was really tired. She was tried of fighting, and she wanted to go home.

When I heard what she had said, I knew, in my heart, she was saying, “I’m done.”

Part of me wanted to cry out, “No, baby, you can’t be done!”

But how can you say that to a child that has had to go through all that she has been through in the almost nine years of her short life. Hasn’t she earned the right to just be done?

Her mom did get there. Nan also got there and they spent last night and this morning singing songs to her, sharing hugs, kisses, and smiles and Elania even laughed.

Nan told her, "Elania, you’re so strong!"

Elania nodded her head in agreement and then flexed her muscles for Nan.

Nan said, “You make me strong.“

Then late this morning, she was done, and she went home to heaven.

While our hearts are torn and broken, we rejoice that she is free, and safely home at last.

“And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.” Revelations 21:4 (NKJ)

Elania Marie Canady, September 19, 2000 - September 6, 2009