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468 Cry At A Wedding

When my father died many years ago I could not stop myself from crying … And then I encountered a vision of him in church one Sunday.  He was in heaven, he was happy, and he was where he wanted to be.  From that moment, the STING of losing him was gone.

There will be many times where we will legitimately cry tears of pain and anguish and despair.

Surely God has something more … In fact, we know that He has more … And so I say:

“Cry At A Wedding”

In both of these verses, God’s elect cry in joy for who He is or what He has given them:

Jeremiah 31 9 They will come with weeping; they will pray as I bring them back. I will lead them beside streams of water on a level path where they will not stumble, because I am Israel’s father, and Ephraim is my firstborn son. 

Luke 7 38 and as she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them. 

What I recommending is not just to cry tears when we are sad … but to never forget to cry tears of joy:

As I watched Caden Wach tearfully await his soon-to-be bride come down the aisle, I was prompted by God to “cry at a wedding”.

I knew exactly what God wanted me to share out on my 2 minute warning.

When I drop my kids at the airport, I cray all the way to I-25.  I am so proud of them and I love them so much.

When my daughter Jordan came around the corner for her last 4×400 relay and she “displayed incredible courage and unselfishness”, I was proud of her beyond what I could possibly say, and I cried on the corner at Jeffco Stadium.

When Teagan Malcom, the 300 meter hurdler that I “got to coach”, ran the greatest race I have ever seen, I cried at the finish line, again, at Jeffco Stadium.

For me, it happens in locker rooms, on football fields, at track stadiums, when I am with my family, and in worship of our living King.

God has given us tears for a reason … and not always for when we are sad …

And so I say … 

Cry At A Wedding

In The Name of the Father and the 

Son and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Know anyone who might like these?  Encourage them to jump on to 2minutewarning.blog and hit the FOLLOW button!!!

Coach J

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467 This Is How I Fight My Battles

To my dear friend who I pray for tonight.  

I am crying out on your behalf … to Jesus … the King of the Universe … The Lion of the Tribe of Judah … the Kinsman Redeemer.

I bind the enemy.  I bind his evil schemes.  And I ask that Jesus would stand over your life, over your family, over all the battles that stand before you.

May He shower you with peace and grace and the strength to rise and fight again.

Psalm 23 1 The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want. 2 He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, 3 he restores my soul. He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. 4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. 5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. 6 Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

God will provide.  He will shepherd over us.  He prepares us a table in the presence of our enemies.

Father, show up for my friend.  Bless him and keep him.  Let your face shine upon him.

In Jesus Name.

In The Name of the Father and the 

Son and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Know anyone who might like these?  Encourage them to jump on to 2minutewarning.blog and hit the FOLLOW button!!!

Coach J

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466 In The Blink Of An Eye

Anyone who is celebrating graduation today understands how fast it truly goes … 

1 Corinthians 15 52 in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 

We understand that life is before us … and then an era ends.  The door closes and can never be opened again.  And it ends so suddenly.

If this stings you, I want to convict you that this … is the what many call “the curse of Adam”.  We can define that in so many ways, but it is the true nature of what we live in when we are frustrated.  This curse makes work difficult, it makes marriage difficult, it makes parenting difficult, it makes dying and even birth difficult.  It is the ugly side of the coin and never to be confused with “how can a loving God do that to us?”.  It is not a loving God who turned His back on us … it was our penchant to choose and truly lives in the fact that we turned our backs on a loving God.

And, the enemy stirs up in us the desire to blame someone else, to which I would reply:  

Do not think that you didn’t do the same thing!  You too turned your back on God and wanted to do things of your own accord.  It is the reality of every man but one.

But God.

But God has given us an option.  And it is the only deal we’re going to get.  It is the offer of Jesus.  And the Jesus offer is the deal of the millennium.  It is the hope of all men.

Take it.

As Jesus told His disciples:  Follow Me.

Take that deal.  Follow Him.

He … is worthy of our surrender

In The Name of the Father and the 

Son and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Know anyone who might like these?  Encourage them to jump on to 2minutewarning.blog and hit the FOLLOW button!!!

Coach J

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465 In Spite Of Me

I can’t help but wonder if this is the most important verse in the Bible:

Romans 5 6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.

God does not mince words.

And thank God that He doesn’t.

Because this verse saves my life … and yours.

Because it contains the idea “In Spite Of Me”.

My life is saved … “In Spite Of Me”

My hope is restored … “In Spite Of Me”

I have done absolutely nothing to give myself a chance to be right with God.  Just the opposite.  I could stand before Him this very day and speak words that resemble what Peter said:

“Lord, I am a sinful man.  Get away from me.”

I tarnish the image.

I ruin the brand.

I hurt the family name.

But God did not care.

And He did not care to the point of death.

You won’t get a better deal than this:

Romans 5 6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.

Not anywhere.

Not from anyone.

Thank You Jesus.

In The Name of the Father and the 

Son and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Know anyone who might like these?  Encourage them to jump on to 2minutewarning.blog and hit the FOLLOW button!!!

Coach J

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464 The Biggest Lie Of This Age

I am shocked at the new movement that calls out the “hatred” in Christians.  

  • It attacks purity
  • It mocks obedience
  • It calls love hate and hate love
  • It is anti family and anti marriage

It is a shocking display of claiming to be the victim while acting as a perpetrator.

But it will never work.

Surrendering to Jesus is not a prison.  It is the release from that prison.

Surrendering to Jesus is not slavery.  It is the release into freedom.

Surrendering to Jesus is not without rules and convictions and structure.  But those are the very things that protect us.

We are God’s children.

Created in His image.

Living out a call that is so genuinely freeing that it is like winning the lottery.

Matthew 8 1 When he came down from the mountainside, large crowds followed him. 2 A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.”

3 Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Immediately he was cured of his leprosy. 

 

Love … IS Jesus.

And this love will make us desire to make no demands of Him because we will want to follow.

He loves us in a way that no one can and releases us into a freedom that can never be substituted for a false narrative or a half truth.

It is the greatest love in the universe and the only hope for our survival.

This love is not to be taken for granted or perverted.

It is not to be changed or manipulated.

It is not to be distorted or compromised.

On the cross, on Calvary, 2000 years ago, He took the nails so that He could defeat the accuser of all mankind.  His accusations, his lies, and his hideous agenda will all be turned back upon him.  And there will be a day when he shames you no more.  The lion of the tribe of Judah guards his brethren … and He never forsakes them.

Don’t undersell or undervalue this love.

It is your only hope.

In The Name of the Father and the 

Son and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Know anyone who might like these?  Encourage them to jump on to 2minutewarning.blog and hit the FOLLOW button!!!

Coach J

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463 A Game You Can Never Win

Since 1993, I have had the pleasure of dealing cards at After Prom, the all night event at the school to give our kids something to do that can add to their prom experience.

It isn’t perfect, but it is amazing.  And it is something that is very fun to be a part of.

As a Blackjack dealer I have a great view of how the game works.  Though some students stack and win and restack and can break the bank, they don’t realize that even this move is impossible in a real casino.  They put a min and a max on each table with the numbers in mind.  In order to win a lot, they have set up the table so that you have to lose a lot.  No one can win and restack because they simply won’t allow it.

And the rest of the time?  It is a bludgeoning.  As the dealer, I deal and hit hands that break them and then square off against the survivors.  They win half of those encounters and I slowly move around the table and collect the money.

It is a “A Game You Can Never Win”.

Viewing his life, I have to wonder if this very thought went to the mind of the Prodigal Son in Luke 15.

Luke 15 12 The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them.

13 “Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. 

Sometimes we rebel because we are just wild.  And sometimes we do it so that we can get that BIG WIN.  And in doing so, we devalue our very being and squander our lives.

The perspective that “we can never win” is a real one.  The enemy has us trapped in a world where our future is painted in gloom.

No amount of money or fame or success or luck will change it.  Our future is sealed.  And all of us can see it.

But with Jesus?

We have the greatest future we could ever dream of.

Our lack of understanding does not change the reality of heaven:

  • Heaven will make this world the “dream state”.  It will be more real than anything that we see here.
  • Our senses will be heightened … tastes and smells … beauty … music … love … nothing will be comparable.
  • The government?  It will be ruled by the Savior of our soul and He will rule without rival or question — not because He is all powerful, but because He would be elected even if we did vote.
  • Money, Fame, Victory … all of these will be given to us in the highest measure–and yet no one will be on the losing side of them.

These things are known by Don Piper, who died and spent forty five minutes in the kingdom, only to return and tell his wife and kids that he “wished he was dead”.

Although I am glad that I have not told those I love that, I have to think that Don Piper experienced just a taste of what God has prepared for those who love Him.  

Do not entertain the thought that you are playing a game that you can’t win.  This is not how God has called you to live.

He also has not called you to live on the other side of that, conquering and winning in every arena … that leads to the same outcome.

The enemy has a plan for our lives.  And it is easy to get sucked into it.  His realm is a place where sons take inheritances while other sons sit at home bitter.  It is a place where living beneath ourselves is encouraged and then condemned.  It is a place where friends disappear when the money is gone and loyalty is replaced by comradery and an “us against them” mentality.

Let’s purpose not to do it.

It is a game we can never win.

Jesus said that He was the Way and the Truth and the Life.  Let’s do that.  It puts the ownership of winning on Him.

And He only loses when it redeems those He loves.

That’s a King I can follow.

In The Name of the Father and the 

Son and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Know anyone who might like these?  Encourage them to jump on to 2minutewarning.blog and hit the FOLLOW button!!!

Coach J

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462 Seeing It Before It Is (Part 2)

I can remember when my doctor, at 16, told me that “I probably would not have children.”  Looking at it today, it makes me laugh.  Five of them with two that we miscarried and all of them incredible testimonies to the God of the universe.

God decides the path of our lives.

He alone.

And He does it in a way that blesses us to the core of our being.

But we must have faith.

As far as a title, I guess I will call this “Seeing It Before It Is Part 2”.

The spring has humbled me in many ways.  There are new challenges and new disappointments.  There are new misunderstandings and new mountains to climb.

The hills and valleys of life can be very discouraging.

But I again reach back to Faith.

Hebrews 1 1 Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. 

And this is just it.  We must be sure of what we hope for … and sometimes hope is so removed that we can’t even get half way to faith.  And so the word for today is to:  Be SURE of what you hope for.  It is to be sure of it until Jesus removes it from your dashboard and tells you to go for something else.

This is a simple word but an important one.

David knew this in his prayers and times with God.  His prayer in Psalm 18 is one that I say repeatedly.  It is hope for the day.

Psalm 18 1 I love you, O LORD , my strength.  

2 The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge.  He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.  3 I call to the LORD , who is worthy of praise, and I am saved from my enemies.

Go forward in hope.  Go forward in faith.  Go forward with Jesus.  And be sure of what you hope for “it” until He moves you on to something else.    

In The Name of the Father and the 

Son and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Know anyone who might like these?  Encourage them to jump on to 2minutewarning.blog and hit the FOLLOW button!!!

Coach J

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461 Seeing It Before It Is

When an NFL player hits a crisis, it must be very hard to pull out of it.  The quarterback, in particular, is in the eye of the storm.  Surrounded by hostile grown men whose primary purpose is to bring pressure and physicality, the quarterback must face the hurricane and deliver in the biggest moments.

CJ Stroud is the new generation of men who “walk into the lions den”.  And he seems to know who he is and who he belongs to.  In every interview that I have seen, he thanks God through Jesus and plays for something bigger.  Bless him for representing.

The reason he is in those interviews, in my opinion, is that he has adopted another character trait that Jesus recommends:

“Seeing It Before It Is”

Some would call it Faith.  I call it FAITH AT THE HIGHEST LEVEL.

And Jesus knew this faith and taught this faith.

Matthew 16 13 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”

14 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”

15 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”

16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

17 Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. 18 And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” 20 Then he warned his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Christ.

Jesus saw Peter.

He saw the plans of the enemy.

He saw the sins of men.

He saw the future.

Jesus chose Peter to build the church before he was worthy to be even a member.

And He sees what lies in front of you.

That’s a leader that makes the best NFL quarterback look like a Pop Warner back up.

And it is who we should be following as we navigate a rocky future.  Jesus Sees It Before It Is … He is worthy of my devotion and surrender.  He is the Christ … the Son of the Living God.  All praise and honor and worship to the God who loves us too much to let us go.

In The Name of the Father and the 

Son and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Know anyone who might like these?  Encourage them to jump on to 2minutewarning.blog and hit the FOLLOW button!!!

Coach J

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460 A Life Of Purpose: Valdean Peppler

Yesterday, I had the honor to speak at Valdean Peppler’s funeral.  If you are a family member and want a copy of the Grave side service or Eulogy, you can find it here.  For the blog, just read on.

When Valdean Peppler started a conversation with her friend Elaine she would always say:  “Elaine, today we are one day closer to paradise.”  On March 20, 2024 she left our earth to do just that.  She looked forward to her entrance into heaven and even told my wife in the months before she died that she had dreamed of a new house that was being built for her and that all the streets were Bible names.

I have a hard time contemplating this whole scenario.  But Valdean … she did not.  And when her son Glen Junior reached out to her dear friend Elaine to let her know that she had passed away, Elaine shouted with joy!  They had both prepared themselves for this moment.

And her life represented that:

Well into her life, Valdean found a freedom in rediscovering the offer of John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” 

From the moment she accepted that word, and Him, Valdean’s life was changed forever.

She could not stop reading her Bible.  She lived a life of purpose.  And she became an Agent.

A Change Agent 

A Travel Agent

A Prayer Agent

Valdean was Change Agent  

Upon hearing that a strip club was going to open on Main Street in Longmont, Valdean and her small group began to pray.  They prayed that the Boardwalk would not open.  Not too long after that, not only was there no Boardwalk, there was a Lord’s Walk.  The Lord’s Walk Christian Book Store was not so much a business…it was a beacon, a family run and influenced place to be encouraged, prayed for, and ministered to.  The Lord’s Walk changed a city.  Valdean was blessed by having family help her run the business, but more than that, she was blessed to influence thousands of people.

Valdean was a Travel Agent  

Those of us who knew Valdean heard “Travel with Angels” every time we left her.  It was not just a saying.  Never would this be more vital then a Glenn Junior accident.  Driving too fast, he veered across highway 287, hit a telephone pole, and ricocheted into an enormous tree.  He ended up waking up in the passenger seat and the tree had pushed the steering wheel completely through the driver’s seat.  Some would say that not wearing a seatbelt saved his life.  More would say that God did.

Valdean was also a Prayer Agent

Any Time Someone Needed Prayer, or counsel, or advice, or encouragement, Valdean was a Beacon of Wisdom.  It wasn’t just her gift, it was her willingness to cry out to God in prayer and request … she activated God to help her … and others.

This didn’t apply to just big things, it applied to ALL things.  Over 30 years ago, Valdean was diagnosed with congestive heart failure.  It was a grim situation.  When Valdean heard that her heart was failing and nothing could be done, she simply “prayed and spoke” Psalm 73:26  “My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”  Her heart began to improve and her granddaughter Leissa awoke one morning to hear her grandma screaming as her doctor told her “your condition is supposed to be degenerative but by all intents and purposes you had a perfectly normal echocardiogram.

I have always asked:  “Why in some cases does God seem show up and not in others?”  I do not know, and Valdean did not know either.  But she celebrated the victories and kept her faith in the defeats.  She chose to give all glory to God and I know that He was blessed by her worship through the good … and the bad.

I will leave you with this:

Jesus is real.

His house is real.

His love is real.

And He has prepared a place for us…..as John says in John 1:  “To those who would receive Him, to those who would call on His Name, He gives the right to become children of God”

And it is never, ever, too late to live a life of purpose.

It can start today.

And all it takes is discovering, OR rediscovering, the offer of John 3:16.  “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” 

In The Name of the Father and the 

Son and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Know anyone who might like these?  Encourage them to jump on to 2minutewarning.blog and hit the FOLLOW button!!!

Coach J

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