As most of you already know, I am a runner. However, as time rolls on I’ve developed issues with my knees and my feet, so I’ve had to back off running. So, Anita got me a bicycle for my birthday. Tuesday evening after dinner we went out for our first ride to get me familiar with the gears.

I had always assumed that these gears were for the purpose of making the ride uphills easier. But, she explained to me that the purpose of the gears is to help the rider peddle steady. As a kid, I would always peddle really hard and then coast. That’s not the way its done, she said. You want to peddle steady, shifting the gears up or down to maintain a steady rhythm. I learned something new.

That rhythm idea should work in other areas of our life, as well. Some of us work too hard all week long, then on the weekends we coast, putting no energy into our family or personal interests or pursuit of God. Maybe we should learn to pace ourselves a little better and keep a steady rhythm of energy outflow.

Paul said, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters” (Colossians 3:23).

I officiated at a funeral in Fort Wayne this week. I rode in the lead car with the funeral director to a cemetery 20-minutes away, and then back again. Its on those rides that we typically small talk about what’s going on in our lives. This funeral director was a young lady originally from St. Louis. I told her about one of Anita’s ancestors who died in poverty in a St. Louis asylum. Which prompted her to tell me that she wanted to do family history research on her family because her grandmother was Native American and her grandfather was the first white man to be employed on the reservation. That prompted me to tell her about American Indian ancestry on Anita’s side. One thing leads into another.

And that’s the way evangelism is done. We talk about what the other person wants to talk about until you find common ground. Common ground is when you are both on the same page. We earn the right to talk about what is important to us if we first talk about what is important to them. First we listen, then we talk.

In John 4 Jesus met with the woman at the well and began a conversation about a drink of water that ended on the topic of eternal life. How did Jesus transition into that? Go read John 4 again and see how easily transitions can be made. Find the common ground, then walk on it.

Sunday evening we had our family together to celebrate my birthday. As we sat to eat in the dining room we observed some deer out our back window along the edge of the woods near Cedar Creek. As we looked a little closer we saw a most amazing sight. We rarely see deer at all behind our house, but this time we saw four. As I got out the binoculars, we saw that all four were bucks. And not first-year button bucks. All four had racks with several points. They didn’t stay long, but disappeared back into hiding.

From time to time God allows us to see amazing things that are way out of the ordinary. Its the un-ordinary things that become memorable. When you have an un-ordinary God-sighting it sticks in your mind. These are things that we never forget. They become part of our testimony and confirm to us that God is still on the throne and cares about us enough to communicate…if we will listen.

Watch for out-of-the-ordinary events today in your life and see if God might be wanting to say something you need to hear about Him.

My Driver’s License was about to expire, so I had to renew it. The branch in Auburn opens at 8:30AM on Tuesdays, so I arrived right at 8:30 and was out in ten minutes. That was the fastest I’ve ever been through the license branch. Sometimes we have to plan ahead if we want to get ahead. The early bird does catch some advantages.

And they took the infamous photo. They told me I could smile but had to keep my mouth closed…And no glasses. Since I always wear my glasses, how is that supposed to look like me? A Driver’s License is more than permission to drive on the roadways. It is also a photo ID to prove age and identity. That license is an important part of every adult.

I also have an identity in Christ Jesus. Its my ticket to heaven in the future and access to God right now. My image doesn’t matter because its the image of Christ that matters. And I get to open my mouth. And this license to heaven never expires. Its eternal.

The story is told of the only survivor of a shipwreck being thrown upon an uninhabited island. After some time, with diligent effort he managed to build a crude hut in which he placed the few precious items he had salvaged from the sinking ship. He prayed for deliverance and anxiously scanned the horizon each day to hail any ship that might happen to pass that way.

One day, when he returned from hunting food, he was horrified to find his hut in flames. All of his possessions had gone up in smoke! The worst had happened – or so it appeared. But the very next day a ship arrived. “We saw your smoke signal,” the captain said. The thing that seemed so disastrous was in reality for the best. It resulted in the deliverance for which he had prayed.

“We know that all things work together for good to them that love God” (Romans 8:28). The worst that is happening in your life right now just might be for the best.

“If March comes in like a lion, it will go out like a lamb.” Who came out with such wisdom? Actually, this proverb goes back many generations. But, who knows for sure? It may be true in Ohio one year, but be reversed in Indiana in same year. Who actually measures this? But, the point is, March is always unpredictable. Not even The Weather Channel can be accurate on March weather predictions.

A devout farmer placed the words, ‘God is Love,’ over his weather vane. A friend asked him about them. “Why use those words with anything as changeable as the wind?”

“My friend, you miss the point,” the farmer  replied. “‘God is love’ no matter which way the wind blows”.