Under Control

 

Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God-which is your spiritual worship.  Romans 12:1

Both of our sons used to be into a variety of different things when they were younger; Pokémon, Nintendo, Marvel and DC superheroes, and anything sports related (i.e. football and basketball).  Transformers were (and in my book still are) 'all the rage' in the Fisher household and can be somewhat complex for younger children to transform.  While the Transformers are totally awesome, the ones they make nowadays are sometimes even difficult for an old veteran like me to actually transform from a vehicle or aircraft mode to a robot and back... 

Just the other day, I was reminiscing about helping our youngest son transform his vast collection of robots (when he was in elementary school) and how he became so impatient with me being so delicate as not to break.  I remember vividly telling him to be careful as he was forcing the plastic toy to where it would eventually break if he was not more careful.  After repeated attempts, he managed to break the arm off of one of the Autobots (the good Transformers) and was very disappointed.  I was eventually able to repair his broken toy and was also provided with the wonderful opportunity of teaching our son a valuable lesson.  In fact, I learned a little lesson from this incident as well…

You see, if you are like me, you have no problem giving God control over the ‘big’ or ‘important’ areas of your life.  I struggle, at times, to give God control over the small and day-to-day things.  I can face a number of situations and foolishly try and convince myself, “ You've got this, Will” or ”I can handle this on my own, God” and end up royally screwing everything up along the way.  Just like our son did with his broken toy, I will proceed to turn things over to God so that He can fix or repair the same things I thought I had under control. 

We must ask God to take control of our lives each and every day. One we have admitted our powerlessness and inability to manage our lives, we must come to a place in our faith where we decide to turn our will and lives over to God’s loving care.

Acknowledge the need for God’s guidance in our lives.  When He becomes our new manager, we must also choose to accept life on His terms as well.  God offers us a way to live that is free from our past, allowing us to enjoy new and wonderful experiences in accordance to His good and perfect will for our lives.  Thanks be to God!

The Road

 

This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ.  Ephesians 4:13

Our two boys, are growing up way too fast.  It's hard for me to believe that our youngest, Elijah, will be celebrating his 16th birthday this summer and driving soon, while our oldest,  Elliott, is about to graduate from high school. Both just started their high school lacrosse season, and I am a very proud father as HVA won their first game.

Along the lines of a tourney or a game, what if a believer’s walk of faith was determined with a grading system or final score?  How would we measure up?

A believer’s perfection is not a flawless imitation of God but rather a process of maturing into a purer and more godly person.  Growing in godliness means becoming more like God, even when we fall way short of his perfect standards, and believe me when I say that quite often I fail to measure up.  

Let us remember that the process of reflecting more and more of God’s nature will be completed when we reach heaven, and then indeed we will finally be considered ‘perfect.’

Picking Up The Pieces

 

He heals the brokenhearted and bandages their wounds.  Psalm 147:3

With two young men in high school, both student athletes that play hard, and at times can be somewhat accident prone which tends to lead to the usual scrapes and bruises and injuries that come from being boys. Of course both of our boys have made trips to urgent care centers a few times over the past few years, but I digress. 

There aren't too many minor injuries that cannot be healed by a Band-Aid and an ice pack or a laugh, but just thinking about the way we as parents tend to our children’s wounds is very similar to the way that God tends to ours as well.

God actually tends to our physical wounds and pains just as He heals our emotional wounds too.  There is no sickness, injury, or pain that the Great Physician cannot heal.

When God performs His healing in our lives, we find joy and others will rejoice in our healing.

Thanks be to God!!

Fear Of The Dark

 

We know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to Hus purpose for them.  Romans 8:28

Our youngest son, when he was much younger, was scared of the dark.  In can recall many nights trying to convince him to sleep through the night without a lamp on in his room. Through deductive reasoning, would often times point out some items to give him peace of mind.  For starters, our old master bedroom was right across the great room/kitchen.  No one would have been able to sneak past our master bedroom without us hearing it.  We also had a security system that was armed at night before bedtime, so it was highly unlikely that someone would have entered our home without triggering the alarm.   

All of these things are solid safety precautions but regardless, we still had to leave a light on in the hallway most nights to get Elijah to go to bed at nighttime.  This reminds me of the way many believers sadly live their lives as well; in fear. 

We have no reason to live in fear once we understand that Jesus died on the cross to spare us from eternal punishment and the free gift of eternal life puts the troubles of this world into perspective.

We can live with peace of mind knowing that our eternal futures are secure.

No matter what happens to us in this lifetime, we can have peace knowing that the trials and troubles we face won’t last forever…

It's A Mistake

 

When the Pharisees saw this, they said to His disciples, "Why is your Teacher eating with the tax collectors and sinners ?"  But when Jesus heard this, He said, "It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick. "But go and learn what this means : 'I DESIRE COMPASSION, AND NOT SACRIFICE,' for I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners."  Matthew 9:11-13

With only a couple of weeks into 2026 and I have made my first big mistake at work for the new year.  I am certainly not proud or boasting here, just accepting the fact that I am a human and make mistakes; in fact, I make a lot of them; all of the time, sometimes daily...

One of the most common misconception about Christians in that all believers should be perfect.  Many of us go to extremes to pretend that we have every facet of our lives in order, but the truth is that while we are all forgiven, we all  still have many shortcomings.

Salvation through Christ doesn't change the fact that sin is still present in our lives.  When we become believers, God forgives us and sees as righteous.  We must continue to renew ourselves and fight the ongoing battle against sin while we are on this earth.

We must be careful not to put up a façade and cover up our shortcomings so that we appear to be “good Christians” to the outside world.  Instead, we must recognize and confess to God, our sinfulness, so that we can be forgiven when we do screw up and fall short of his glory.

That Is Why

 

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.  Romans 9:12

It is inevitable, but we will always face hardships while we are here on this earth.  Regardless, we must come to a place in our relationship with Christ where we can truly open our hearts and minds to receive all that He has in store for us.

Our children are growing up way too fast but on rare occasions, our youngest will let us comfort him with a reassuring hug. (Both of our sons are in high school, so the displays of affection are few and far between.)  Just like a child finding comfort in his/her parent's arms, we too must seek our Father with that same child-like faith and determination.

We must also let our guards down and simply allow Jesus into our hearts to do the work only He can do.  Little by little, Jesus can turn our weaknesses into strengths through His transforming power and grace.

Have peace knowing that there is absolutely nothing that can separate us from His presence!

Born of Frustration

 

Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who trusts in Him! Psalm 34:8

Working in sales, I have experienced some high-highs and some low-lows over the past 26 years of my career path.  Just last year our team exceeded our sales goals before the Q3.  From August until December, things were just busy, stressful, and the last few months of 2025 just flew by, and while difficult and often times tiresome, we finished the year on a high note as a team.

Much the same, I truly believe that the reason God allows us to experience trials and sorrow in our lives is so that we might learn that He has the power to sustain and provide for us all things that produce earthly blessings.  All of God’s children go through storms in their journeys through life.

We must remember that it is while we are in the “ going through” stages of any crisis or trial that God’s peace becomes clear to all.  Praise be to God!