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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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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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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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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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459 You Belong To Something Bigger

As I watched college basketball last night, I saw a commercial that convicted me.  Mike Krzyzewski said:

“You Belong To Something Bigger”

How prophetic.

I think that is the theme today.  “You Belong To Something Bigger”

We are sometimes trapped in a rat race that never ends.

We strive to complete our daily tasks and make our daily wage.

We chase after a security that will never come.

We desire to be immortal only to discover that we are brittle and broken.

Take a minute today and rest in the fact that “You Belong To Something Bigger”.  You belong to the Lion of the Tribe of Judah.  

This Jesus, the Jesus who carried His own cross to the hill on Calvary, He did it for you.

This Jesus, the Jesus who forgave the broken, He did it for you.

This Jesus, the Jesus who challenged the privileged in front of the broken, He did it for you.

And it was this Jesus who gave us these words:  “In this world, you will have trouble.  But take heart … I have overcome the world.”

Not long after this, He was betrayed, abandoned, brought before a mockery of a trial, beaten, sentenced, and executed as His clothes were gambled over by two Roman soldiers.  It was hardly the “overcome the world” that we wanted to see.  But it was the only thing that could possibly save us.

And He made it possible … So that we could Belong To Something Bigger.

As you read this verse today:

Revelation 19 11 I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and makes war. 12 His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself. 13 He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. 14 The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. 15 Out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. “He will rule them with an iron scepter.” He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. 16 On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.

Remember:  this was written by John after an ugly exile to Patmos.  It wasn’t the ending that he wanted for his life.

But he belonged to something bigger.

Bow before the Father today.

Commit your life to Him.

Let go of your thoughts and your theories and your vision for the way that you think life ought to be … and begin to press into what it truly is … a broken world that could never be right on its own accord, with people who could never be right on their own accord, ruled over by a God who made it right on His own accord.

Thank God that …

You Belong To Something Bigger

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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458 Enough For Today

The Kingdom of God is hard to understand.

Matthew 16 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. 

This is Peter.  And this Peter is the guy who promised loyalty and ran.  This is the Peter who denied even knowing Jesus, the guy who swore just to make that point crystal clear.  This is the guy who fell asleep in Jesus’ darkest hour.

A rock?

Not even a pebble.

But our view of the gospel is always tainted.

We choose to be judged by what we intended to do …

But we judge others by what they did.

But the reality of the universe is really very simple.

God says we will be judged in EVERY WAY.  And the reality is that even a person will say:  “The road to Hell is paved with good intentions.”

And so here we are …

On the road to Hell.

Enter Jesus.

Full of grace and truth.

Healing the sick.  Raising the dead.

Putting His hands on the unclean.

Standing up for the broken.

But above all of that … He is calling up those who are not equipped — like Peter.

And He is calling you too.

So bring your broken self to the foot of the cross.

Accept His grace.

And go give away His love.

That’s enough for today … and the reality is … It Is Enough For A Lifetime.

“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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457 The Cost Of Admission

I love reading this verse.  It is challenging to our culture in 2024 in so many ways:

Luke 16 1 Jesus told his disciples: “There was a rich man whose manager was accused of wasting his possessions. 2 So he called him in and asked him, ‘What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your management, because you cannot be manager any longer.’

3 “The manager said to himself, ‘What shall I do now? My master is taking away my job. I’m not strong enough to dig, and I’m ashamed to beg— 4 I know what I’ll do so that, when I lose my job here, people will welcome me into their houses.’

5 “So he called in each one of his master’s debtors. He asked the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’

6 ” ‘Eight hundred gallons of olive oil,’ he replied.
“The manager told him, ‘Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it four hundred.’

7 “Then he asked the second, ‘And how much do you owe?’
” ‘A thousand bushels of wheat,’ he replied.
“He told him, ‘Take your bill and make it eight hundred.’

8 “The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly. For the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light. 9 I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.

10 “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. 11 So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? 12 And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own?

13 “No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.”

14 The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all this and were sneering at Jesus. 15 He said to them, “You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of men, but God knows your hearts. What is highly valued among men is detestable in God’s sight.

Many people view heaven and wonder:  “What is the cost of admission?”

What is the cost of admission?

We are short on our accounts and when the payment is due we will not have enough to pay it.

And then there is Jesus.  He shows up and cancels the debt for us and our entrance goes from impossible to certain.

This is a message to the believer and the unbeliever.

It is easy for a follower to say that “I have been doing this for years and because of that, I am going to the front of the line.”

It is easy for a newcomer to say, “I am not worthy.”  Or “I will go to the back of the line because I am not good enough.”

But this is not what Jesus says:

He says:  Welcome.  Enjoy your promotion.  Welcome to the family.

When we are in we are in.  And we are in because Jesus decided to pay the price of admission.

This message is not a good one to the individual who can buy everything or influence everything or overpower everything.  There will be no money great enough, no influence great enough, and certainly nothing powerful enough to push our God around.

I mean:  He owns the cattle on a thousand hills.

He equips shepherd boys with rocks to take down giants.

He shuts the mouths of lions.

And He will certainly stand in front of an army and be undaunted.

The concept of the Lion of the Tribe of Judah ruling over us excites me as much as it humbles me.

And He did, unequivocally, pay the price for our admission … and yours.

So when you sit in worship today … THANK HIM for that.

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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