Life

Shining Bright: Lessons from the Centennial Light

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How many Baptists does it take to change a light bulb? This variation of a well-known joke may make you chuckle. The answer, by the way, is at least 15: one to change the bulb, and three committees to approve the change and decide who brings the potato salad and fried chicken.

Improved technology allows us to change light bulbs less often these days. Bulb life is measured in Average Rated Life (ARL) hours, and the old, incandescent bulbs had an ARL of 750-2,000 hours. Compact fluorescent bulbs scored higher with an ARL of 8,000-10,000 hours. Now, LED bulbs can operate 5 times longer with an ARL of 40,000-50,000 hours. One bulb, however, surpasses all of these.

The Centennial Light is the world’s longest running light bulb. As its name suggests, it is well over a hundred years old. It was given to the Livermore-Pleasanton Fire Department in 1901 and has burned brightly since then. The bulb has burned brightly in the fire station for over a million hours! That means the bulb has remained illuminated throughout 24 presidential inaugurations. A dedicated webcam allows people to view the Centennial Light at any time.

Centennial Light

We can admire the Centennial Light not merely as a marvel but also as an example for our lives. We too are called to continuously shine, but we do so with the light of Christ. The bulbs of believers do not always remain illuminated, which is why Jesus urged His followers, “Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:16).

This world craves light. David wrote, “Many are asking, ‘Who can show us anything good?’ Let the light of your face shine on us, LORD” (Psalm 4:6). People remain in darkness on their own, however. In Proverbs we read, “The way of the wicked is like deep darkness; they do not know over what they stumble” (Proverbs 4:19).

Christian, your light is needed. How is your light shining for Christ? When people look at your life, do they see good works that brightly illuminate the goodness of God? The light that we shine originates not from us but from God. Paul explained,

“For God who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of God’s glory in the face of Jesus Christ.” (2 Corinthians 4:6)

The more you immerse yourself in the “light of knowledge” as revealed in Jesus, the more you are equipped to continuously shine for the Lord.

How will you let your light shine?

Unconceived Wonder

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Sometime last year, while surfing the web, I stumbled upon a clickbait article with an intriguing title about world wonders that have been discovered through Google Earth. People have used Google’s eye-in-the-sky viewing ability to find previously unknown wonders on earth. Here are some examples:

In Greenland, grainy images revealed two rivers in the far North. Sarah McNair-Landry, Erik Boomer, and Ben Stookesberry went on an expedition to find them. They kite-skied over 600 miles across the frozen land and then paddled the waters. These are the northernmost waters that people have paddled.

Film producer Sergio Neuspiller was in Argentina scouting new filming locations when he discovered the spinning island called “El Ojo.” This circular island sits in a slightly wider circular lake. A combination of wind, current, and methane gas in the water help the land float and spin.

Image credit: Parque Nacional Ciervo de los Pantanos

The world’s largest natural arch was found with the help of Google Earth! Locals knew about this land bridge spanning the Buliu River in southern China, but Jay Wilbur led a team on a rafting trip to locate and measure the arch. It is nearly 400 feet long, over 100 feet longer than the previous record holder in Utah!

Google Earth has helped people discover a meteorite crater in Egypt, an entrance to a cave containing early human skeletons in South Africa, and a hidden rainforest in Mozambique. It’s humbling to think that, despite all we know about this incredible world, new wonders continue to amaze. Discoveries shift our own understanding and expectations.

Our life expectations can shift, too. Having entered 2025, we may think we know what to expect, but new wonders have yet to be experienced. Perhaps God has a new endeavor for you to undertake – one that will fill you with joy. Maybe this year’s events will leave you dazzled with God’s imaginative creativity. Are you looking forward to that?

Isaiah 64:3 describes God performing “awesome works that we did not expect.” Paul quotes a later verse in this chapter, writing,

“What no eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no human heart has conceived — God has prepared these things for those who love him” (1 Corinthians 2:9).

The same God at work among His people in ancient times is at work among us in 2025! Let’s look forward to what God will bring us. I encourage you to be ready to respond to God’s prompting this year. It could be an unconceived wonder that God is bringing you to increase your delight in Him.

RESET project edits

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Hey friends, I’m working on another book! It’s called RESET: 5 Steps to Overcoming the Struggles that Hold You Back.

RESET helps Christians take control of their toxic thoughts – the fear, anxiety, anger, loneliness and other struggles that keep them from flourishing as God intended.

Using principles from Philippians 4, I share five steps that any Christian can follow to “RESET” his or her heart and mind. Rather than passively remaining helpless, people can take charge of their struggles.

My friends at Good Comma Editing have been helping with the final polish of the manuscript to get it ready for publication. It will be a few months, but the wait will be worth it!

My next project…

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I’m excited to share some news with you: I just completed the manuscript for my next project!

I hope to share with you more in the coming days, but here’s the working title of the book: RESET: 5 Steps to Overcoming the Struggles that Hold You Back

Stay tuned for updates, coming soon.

Inventive Expressions

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Have you heard of the monowheel?

While looking up inventions recently, I came across one that immediately caught my interest. The futuristic-looking “Motoruota” was invented a hundred years ago, patented in France in 1924! David Cislaghi and Giuseppe Govetosa were the named inventors on the patent. Because they were never widely popular, these “monowheels” are shrouded in a bit of mystery, though they were featured in the December 1924 edition of Popular Science Monthly. It is said that the Motoruota could reach speeds of nearly 100 miles per hour.

We have enjoyed rapid technological inventions nearly nonstop for the past 150 years. This can lead us to always look to the next gizmo or updated version of a product we love. Perhaps we are sometimes too quick to disregard the inventions of the past. A few marvels lie buried that are worth some scrutiny, and, if we are honest, not all of today’s inventions are worthy of accolades.

As we live out our faith, we can be guilty of looking for the next innovation to propel us forward, though what lies in the past is often much more fruitful. We seek the next worship song, popular speaker, Christian living book, conference, or catchy verse. These are not bad, but they can leave us continually skimming the surface, looking for the next exciting thing that will boost our faith.

In truth, Christians should embrace both the old and the new, the things that stand the test of time and those new expressions of hope that will propel us forward.

God reveals this in His Word:

Remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me.

Isaiah 46:9, ESV

But just a few chapters earlier, we read:

Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.

Isaiah 43:18-19, ESV

Even at the end of the Bible, God declares He is “making all things new” (Revelation 21:5). In the next verse, He reminds us that He is the beginning and the end. The trustworthy truths of the past will always hold their value, and we can eagerly embrace new expressions of those same principles. That is because our God is the God of every moment in time!

What aspects of God’s past faithfulness do you treasure? How will you live out the hope He has placed in you in a new way in the coming days?

Image attribution: Nationaal Archief, (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/)

Made to Shine

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Image from arcpublishing.com*

In Philadelphia there lies an impressive-looking building that once housed St. Paul’s Presbyterian Church. Built in 1901, this structure has fallen into disrepair like so many old church buildings. Thankfully, new life exists within, as another congregation – Emmanuel Christian Center – bought the building and set about renovating it. Part of the renovation process involved the removal of two large, grime-covered circular windows that were high up on the wall.

The windows were in such bad condition the church initially planned to demolish them. Instead, they offered a salvager the opportunity to buy the windows and remove them. They sold them for $6,000 apiece to Paul Brown, who extracted and sent the windows to an auction house. Upon appraisal, Brown learned these were original rose windows made in 1904 by the famous Tiffany Studios company. After being cleaned up, the windows fetched $100,000 apiece!

Do you know the original purpose of rose windows? These Gothic features developed around the 12th century allowed more light into the building and represented the light of God illuminating His creation. The image of divinity was often circular – think of the round halos depicted behind Christ’s head – so churchgoers could look up and be reminded of God’s glory or down to see the beautiful colors arrayed by the light passing through beautiful stained glass. The intricate geometrical patterns reflected the order of the universe and of a life submissive to the Lord’s precepts.

We are like rose windows, but we often feel like those filthy ones found in Philadelphia. The dirt and grime of life – past mistakes, failures, and the trials of age – become caked to us, obscuring our beauty and value. We forget that God has made us in His image, that through faith in Christ we have been not only forgiven of our sin but enabled to live holy lives. God has made us to be gorgeous and priceless windows that display the light of God’s glory and goodness for all the world to see!

Peter the apostle made enough mistakes that he likely felt he had ruined any opportunity to be useful again, but consider what he later wrote:

“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.”

1 Peter 2:9, NIV

And later:

“His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.”

2 Peter 1:3-4, NIV

God made you to display the light of Christ to the world, and He has equipped you with everything you need to do so. If there is a sin struggle in your life, you are able with God’s power to remove that grime and better demonstrate the order of God’s love. Walk confidently then, knowing that God is at work shining through you!

Image source: https://www.inquirer.com/resizer/uwHmcUIR_7ypuaS68isvF1NpZRo=/800×533/smart/filters:format(webp)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/pmn/HFBMGNG2N5BXBETDRTFSEXRWKA.jpg

Staying Fluent

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My family subscribes to a youth news program called World Watch. Recently on this program, Chloe Hendon reported on a language known as Jèrriais. This Norman French dialect has been preserved over a thousand years due to its isolation on the island of Jersey, where it is spoken. Now, however, about 500 mostly elderly Jèrriais speakers remain.

Around the turn of the 20th century, Jersey adopted English and French as the official languages, viewing Jèrriais as the commoner’s tongue, and schools stopped teaching it. From there, Jèrriais continued to steadily decline.

By 2001, Jersey sought to reverse the near-extinction of their language, offering free courses and even reintroducing it into primary schools. Jèrriais was also redesignated an official language of Jersey in 2019. Will these efforts be enough to keep Jèrriais from dying out? Time will tell. Atticus Mawby, a young adult speaker of Jèrriais, explained, “No culture is complete without its language…If Jèrriais does die, then Jersey will just become another part of Britain. It will be really sad.”

Mawby is correct, and his comments extend far beyond Jersey’s language and culture. Our own Christian faith and culture have been preserved by generations who poured themselves into the next generation, faithfully immersing their young people in the truths of our faith. Ironically, the people of Jersey were so immersed in their language that they did not realize the role it had played in keeping their cultural continuity. For a hundred years, fluent speakers watched as their children learned a new language, little realizing it might erase their own cultural heritage. We, too, find ourselves with a choice to either adopt the new cultural norms around us or hold fast to the faith heritage that prior generations have given us.

Do we want our young people to be fluent in our Christian faith? If so, we must immerse them in it. On a church ministry level, this means that programs involving our young people should be the last areas where we struggle to find volunteers. On a family level, it means that parents and grandparents – knowing that they model each day what their priorities are – seek to faithfully immerse their children in a lifestyle oriented toward godliness.

Speaking of passing along Scriptural truth, the Psalmist Asaph writes,

We will not hide them from their children, but will tell a future generation the praiseworthy acts of the LORD, his might, and the wondrous works he has performed.

He established a testimony in Jacob and set up a law in Israel, which he commanded our ancestors to teach to their children so that a future generation — children yet to be born — might know.

They were to rise and tell their children so that they might put their confidence in God and not forget God’s works, but keep his commands.

(Psalm 78:4-7 CSB)

What “language” are you passing along to the next generation?

Image attribution: Man vyi, https://www.flickr.com/photos/39904966@N00/3094304063/in/photostream/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/)

Tumbleweeds

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Image attribution: ImperfectTommy  / Edmond Meinfelder, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)

Residents of South Jordan, Utah, part of Salt Lake City, awoke after a recent storm to an unexpected sight: tumbleweeds covered their yards! Local news affiliate KSL reports that one resident only saw the tumbleweeds when he opened the garage door that morning. A ten-foot high wall of the thorny bushes cascaded into his garage!

I cannot read a story about tumbleweeds without thinking of my church’s Vacation Bible School “Tumbleweed” song, circa 2010. Perhaps you, too, have likewise been forever marked by that song from that year’s Saddle Ridge Ranch theme. Some of us also struggle with the tumbleweed lifestyle warned about in the song. Consider some of these lyrics:

Don’t be a tumbleweed, 
Blowing anywhere the wind may lead. 
Plant yourself deep, 
In the B-I-B-L-E. 
God’s Word can set you free, 
From being like that tumbleweed. 

That reminds me of some verses in Ephesians about our need to become mature Christians. Paul writes,

“Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ.”

Ephesians 4:14-15 NIV

Immaturity can turn us into Christian tumbleweeds that blow us around. Instead of pursuing growth in Christ, we find ourselves blown around by every situation, such as life events, the latest headlines, or concerns about the future.

I did a bit of research into the tumbleweed. The plant’s name is Russian thistle. This plant grows and develops long green leaves, like tender pine needles, and even tiny flowers, which eventually go to seed. After this, the Russian thistle dries out, and its leaves become prickly. It breaks off at the base once the frost comes, at which point it is susceptible to the wind’s whims.

Christians need not mirror the life cycle of the tumbleweed. We dry out when we stop growing, stop connecting with other believers. Earlier in our passage, Paul explains how believers are equipped in the church. This equipping is

“…for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.”

Ephesians 4:12-13 NIV

We serve to build up the body and help each other both to mature and to prevent ourselves from becoming Christian tumbleweeds.

Where are you serving? Where are you growing?

Let’s give the Tumbleweed song the last word:

Then you will never be, 
Blowing round aimlessly, 
You will never be like a tumbleweed.

Music: “Tumbleweed” by Jeff Slaughter/Lifeway Kids Worship

P.S. You can listen to the Tumbleweed song here: https://youtu.be/CDfP4nWdHaU?si=Q-pS35vjH202nYKi

Fish Stories

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Image by Khalid Mehmoodfrom Pixabay.

This time of year, the only amazing “catches” we might hear about relate to football, but fishing aficionados love to talk about their fish stories, too. You may have heard a few whoppers in your day, but I came across a fish story that involves a catch even more amazing than landing some big, elusive fish nicknamed “Bubba.”

An ABC news report describes a fishing trip that 14-year-old Connor Halsa enjoyed with his grandfather in northern Minnesota, when Connor made a startling catch. He reeled in a wallet, which contained $2,000 cash! Eventually, Connor was able to track down the wallet’s owner, Jim Denney of Iowa. Jim came to retrieve the wallet and was impressed that Connor turned down his offer of reward money. Jim gave Connor a custom fishing cooler and took the family to dinner as a thank you. I love what Connor said when asked why he was honest and returned the cash: “We didn’t really work hard for the money. He did, so it was his money.”

As Christians, we are familiar with Christ’s command to be “fishers of men.” Mark 1:17 says, “And Jesus said to them, ‘Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men’” (ESV). That promise can sometimes feel daunting and overwhelming. We strive to follow Jesus, but our fishing skills sometimes seem lacking. When I go fishing – for fish – I know the basics but lack the sense to know where the fish congregate, what time of day is best, or what angle I should cast from relative to the sun’s positioning. Experienced fishermen know these sorts of things, but when I consider them, I figure it’s best that I not cast my line into the water at all.

Have you considered that Jesus simply wants us to cast a line into the water? Following Him is more about fishing than catching. Experienced fishermen have had days with rotten luck, while newbies have enjoyed amazing days without knowing why.

But none of them can catch anything if they don’t cast a line into the water, just as Connor would not have caught that wallet without casting his line. Maybe his line had snagged a few times earlier on a stick or seaweed, or it may have even snapped on an old tire. Maybe that’s how you feel.

We all have had trouble when attempting to fish for people – to share our faith and connect people to Christ and to fellowship with other believers. If that has kept you from “fishing” recently, are you ready to try again? How might you cast a line into the water this week?

Who knows what fish stories you will tell!

Endzone Dance

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Image source: Instagram/JimKelly1212 https://www.instagram.com/reel/CxePIrEM0PR/

“The minute you have fame, and if you’re trying to chase status and money and all this stuff, you’ll lose your life — rather than denying yourself, picking up your cross, keeping your eyes on Jesus and His promises…that’s life, and that’s a life worth living.”

Last September, former National Football League quarterback Jim Kelly celebrated a milestone in his life. Kelly is no stranger to milestone accomplishments. While playing for the Buffalo Bills in the early 1990s, Kelly led his team to a record four consecutive Superbowl appearances. Tragically, for Bills fans, each of these games ended in a loss. In 2002, Kelly was inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame. During retirement, he faced two serious bouts with cancer and prevailed. What was Jim Kelly’s milestone in September? He was baptized! Posting a video of his baptism on social media, Kelly shared the following:

“I’m not a man of many words and I don’t speak ‘Christianese.’ All I know is that God changed my life…I’m far from perfect but God helped me humble myself and seek him for help. Becoming a Christian is the best decision I’ve made in my life. I wish I would’ve come to him sooner. But his timing is perfect.”

https://www.christianpost.com/news/nfl-legend-jim-kelly-gets-baptized-god-changed-my-life.html

This Sunday, Brock Purdy will quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers in Superbowl LVIII. Purdy, barely 24 years old, is already an outspoken Christian living for God’s glory. His rise to NFL glory has been surprising, but he continues to stay grounded in Christ alone. When interviewed by Sports Spectrum, Purdy shared about the vanity of seeking after the things of this world:

“The minute you have fame, and if you’re trying to chase status and money and all this stuff, you’ll lose your life — rather than denying yourself, picking up your cross, keeping your eyes on Jesus and His promises…that’s life, and that’s a life worth living.”

https://sportsspectrum.com/sport/football/2024/01/29/brock-purdy-49ers-super-bowl-glorify-god/

That perspective for a rising star is refreshing! I’m sure that Jim Kelly, whose career ended more than 20 years ago, would heartily agree. Chasing the things of the world – fame, fortune, comfort, or happiness – cannot compare to the glory that comes from living for Christ. “My identity can’t be in football,” Purdy explained. “It can’t be in the things of this world. It’s got to be in Him.”

Amen!

Where is your identity found?

These NFL players are following the same “playbook” that you and I use. Football players are known for celebrating touchdowns with endzone dances. Those short-term celebrations are nothing compared to what we can celebrate in eternity. This is how Paul described our calling to focus on things of eternal glory rather than the temporary pursuits of life:

Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.

Col 3:1-3 NIV

That heavenly perspective reminds us that our endzone dance is not in this life but in the next. Our hearts can easily drift. Ask yourself, how often do I dwell on “things above”? Brock Purdy and Jim Kelly are examples that, whether early or late, any time is a good time to begin focusing on Christ.