Category Archives: Christians

Mention a well known Christian preacher and what do you picture? Probably, a dark suit, white shirt, conservative tie and aloofness, right? This is the cookie-cutter mold for most Christian luminaries who are podium-stars on the Christian church circuits.

Then, there’s Arthur Blessitt. A most unconventional evangelist. He has carried the cross around the world and walked a Guinness World Record 38,102 miles through 315 nations.

Honey and I met Blessitt in Fort Smith, Arkansas, when he was speaking at a junior college. What’s funny is that I had to drag Honey to the small auditorium. She had never heard of him and did not want to attend.

Blessitt appeared in his normal attire: faded jeans and blue chambray work shirt. His short talk consisted of telling about his mission and a few anecdotes from his travels. He ended the meeting with a short prayer.

Afterward, I wanted to shake his hand and thank him for his commitment in obeying Jesus.

As we approached, he pointed at Honey and said, “You really encouraged me today. I looked at your face while I was speaking and just felt encouraged to carry on. Thanks.”

I could have died right there on the spot. Every part of me wanted to scream aloud, “Arthur, she didn’t want to even come here. It was my idea. Me. Me. Me. I’m the Blessitt fan in this family, not Honey.”

Thanks to the Holy Spirit who shushed me, I kept quiet and smiled while he shook Honey’s hand.

Do I remember Blessitt’s speech? No.  Or his prayer? No.

But what I do remember was this: his humility.

The fear of the Lord is the instruction for wisdom, and before honor comes humility. (Proverbs 15:33)

Swimming Upstream appears at this blog site on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. It’s  a little of this and a little of that, all written  to encourage and exhort believers in their Christian journeys.

The cell phone rang; I flipped it open. “Hello,” I said.

“I have cancer. Will you pray for me?” she said through panic-weighted sobs.

Though shocked, I replied, “Yes, of course I will.”

This just happened, but over my twenty-four years of being a believer, I’ve heard it often. Storms happen, you know. At times, the storms blow across our lives as financial monsoons. Other times, it’s sickness hurricanes. Or divorce cyclones. Whatever, the storms are devastating when they hit. And the wreckage may be severe.

More often than not, the individual is not prepared. They may be active members of a church. They may be generous givers of tithes and offerings. They may be doing some good works in their communities.

But usually, their prayer lives are three-minute dart tosses each day, aimed at heaven, as in “God bless this meal and us today. Amen.”

And their Bible studies consists of thirty-minute per week workouts, done along with their pastors’ sermons on Sunday mornings. Then, after these exhausting exercises, the Bibles rest on tables until next week.

When the storms hit, what do these people usually depend on? The prayer lives and faith of other people.

Now, this is not to say that storms do not happen to all types of believers. They do. And this is not to say that all believers should not ask for prayer from others. They should.

But when the storm rocked the disciples’ boat and they screamed, “Save us, Lord; we are perishing”, what was the Lord’s reply?

He said to them, “Why are you afraid, you men of little faith?…” (Matthew 8:26)

So, are you prepared for the next storm in your life? Will your prayer life and faith calm the storm?

Swimming Upstream appears at this blog site on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. It’s  a little of this and a little of that, all written  to encourage and exhort believers in their Christian journeys.

Anna at Bigger Than Me, has written an article, Spiritual, Supernatural Things (Part 2), which has brought on some interesting comments from truthwalker.

Now I know, it’s easy for us believers, especially me, to point our fingers at truthwalker and say, “You shoulda done this. You shoulda done that. What’s your problem?”

Anna admitted in her article:

And to be quite honest, this scared me. How is it possible that someone who had known the love of Jesus would willingly walk away?…God simply wasn’t there for them when they needed Him. And at this pivotal point, doubt entered in… And what scared me the most is that this could happen to any one of us, even me.

Most of us believers have a little bit of Peter inside us which on the one hand boasts, “Lord, I will never leave you” and on the other hand looks for the next bus out of town when everything falls to pieces.

Of course, maybe you are the rock-solid exception. If you are, God bless you. But for the rest of us, maybe this is a good time to ask, “At what point, will I fall away?”

And if you do not carry your own cross, you cannot be My disciple. But don’t begin until you count the cost…(Luke 14:27-28 New Living Translation)

Swimming Upstream appears at this blog site on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. It’s  a little of this and a little of that, all written  to encourage and exhort believers in their Christian jouneys.

Honey body-slammed me and then twisted my left arm behind my back until it touched my nose. All the while, she whispered, “Just surrender, okay?”

I pounded the carpet with my right fist until the pain was too much to bear. “Okay, I surrender!” I screamed.

So, she let me up and pointed to the car keys on the counter. “Let’s go,” she said.

Hanging my head, I obeyed. And to be honest, once we sat down in our seats at the movie theater, I did enjoy myself.  Slumdog Millionaire was better than I thought it would be, but yet…

These fairy tale movies which depict a one in a billion chance of a person raising himself out of pathetic squalor into a life of plenty leaves a person sad after the warm fuzzies wear off.

It sort of reminds me of the the time movie actress/activist, Jane Fonda, joined the Native Americans in their picketing and occupying efforts of taking over Fort Lawson, near Seattle. All went on a hunger strike which lasted for a week. Then, a settlement was made between all parties involved.

The Native Americans then went back to their miserable lives on the reservations or wherever. But what about Jane Fonda? Poor Jane was so exhausted that she rented a villa in Acapulco for a week. How miserable, huh?

And after my popcorn bag was empty, I realized I’m as much a hypocrite as I thought Jane Fonda was back in 1970. What have I really ever done to help the poor people of the world?

Sadly, very little.

…remember the poor…(Galatians 2:10)

Swimming Upstream appears at this blog site on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. It’s  a little of this and a little of that, all written  to encourage and exhort believers in their Christian jouneys.

Some like to dismiss Easter as just a pagan holiday, not worthy of Christian celebration. And yes, maybe the name has pagan origins, but who really cares about some dead, dumb god who never had any power. Jesus has reclaimed this day for His glory, and if you doubt it, try to travel somewhere by an airplane today. Almost impossible, right? Jesus reclaimed this day for His glory.  And guess what? He is going to reclaim every other day of the year for His glory.

Why? He’s alive!