Author Archives: Tom Wise

Message in A Minute: Restored With Gold

I just watched an episode of the “The Brady Bunch” where Peter breaks his moms’s favorite vase.

The kids join forces to glue the vase back together. Only to have it leak water all over the dining room table. Revealing it’s brokenness and less than perfect restoration.

Peter finally confesses but the vase was beyond repair.

It reminded me of an amazing illustration of how God works with broken humanity.

I’ve witnessed this illustration used a few different times and every time it communicates deeper than the words used in the presentation.

Kintsugi is a Japanese method for repairing broken ceramic pottery. Instead of discarding the bowl, cup, or plate, it is repaired in a unique way. Making it more than a simple dish, it could even be considered a work of art.

A special adhesive mixed with gold or silver is applied between broken pieces and the pieces are brought back together. Often the pottery is more beautiful then before. The idea is not to hide the brokenness but to highlight and honor it.

Because the dish is more interesting when it has a story.

Kintsigi can be translated to “the golden journey” or “repair with gold”, it is a wonderful illustration of what God can do with broken people.

Multiple times in the Bible, it says that God is close to the broken hearted. Many stories of God rescuing, restoring, and renewing are found in scripture. Maybe you know the scriptures, and maybe you’ve heard those stories.

But I hope you know this, you can be one of those stories.

If you give your broken pieces to God, He can make something more beautiful than before. You past, your mistakes, the wrongs you’ve done, the wrongs that have been done to you, all of it can be part of a graceful journey when God is involved.

But the kintsugi expert can’t do the amazing work without all the pieces, and God can’t revitalize you without all of yours.

God won’t force His way into your life, He won’t take the pieces from you without your permission. But, He will ask you to let go of them and let Him do His work.

You are valuable to Him.
Your healing is valuable to Him.
Your story is valuable to others.

Let God have the pieces, trust Him with the process, and watch what He produces.

Don’t be surprised if the broken areas are now the most interesting and encouraging places in your life.

Be a story of God’s grace.
See the story of Gods Grace in others.
And share your story so others will know that nothing is too broken for God.

-Tom Wise

Message In A Minute: Through Me

On one of my favorite episodes of the Andy Griffith Show, Barney gets help from beyond.

The choir has a big show coming up and somehow Barney gets a solo. He can’t stay in tune, and the choir director doesn’t want to hurt his feelings. Andy comes up with a crazy idea that would never work anywhere but Mayberry.

Andy convinces Barney that a special microphone will be used for the performance. Andy explains that Barney has to sing so low that almost no sound comes out of his mouth. Barney seems confused but trusts Andy’s advice.

The hapless deputy stands alone in front of the crowd waiting for his cue. He doesn’t realize that his microphone is off. Another man from the choir slips behind the curtain to a live microphone and belts out a powerful solo. Barney moves His mouth and believes it’s his own voice.

You can watch Barney’s demeanor change after just a few notes. He goes from unsure to confident in an instant. Barney is filled with bravado, the crowd is in awe, and he never realizes the power came from a more qualified voice.

I feel like Barney sometimes.

It’s not a perfect analogy but it makes sense to me.

There have been times I had just the right words at just the right moment. Other times, I decided to do something for someone and it ended up being more meaningful than I imagined. A few have told me that my words or actions helped them get through a tough time.

I look back and realize it wasn’t really me, it was someone working through me. Like Barney, I was simply playing my part while God was behind the scenes directing and speaking through me.

I’ve seen this happen many more times through other people. God works through them to encourage, uplift, or inspire. I’ve seen God work through people you would least expect.

God promises to give us the right words, clear direction, and pure motivation, if we yield to His leading.

We all have gifts, some may be good singers, others may have a way with words, while others have the ability to help others through doing repairs to a home or vehicle.

Everyone has limitations as well. We can’t meet all the needs around us. Our attitude holds us back, our finite resources impede our benevolence, or we simply don’t know what to say.

But God has all the wisdom, all the strength, all the patience, all the resources, all the mercy, and all the love to impact others through you.

Trust God.

Ask Him to work in you and with you.
Ask Him to speak to you and through you.
Ask Him to reach into your heart and out through your hands.

The reality is, if God is with you, you will never be standing alone.

-Tom Wise

Message In a Minute: To the Beat of Your Own Drum

On a recent trip to Washington, D.C. my family and I stayed at a hotel on the Gallaudet University campus.

Gallaudet University is a school for the deaf and hearing impaired.

Many of the deaf students work at the hotel, it helps them hone their life skills in a work environment. Every employee of the hotel used sign language to communicate. Even our shuttle driver, who was not hearing impaired, used a mix of verbal and sight based communication. It was an educational experience.

After sightseeing, while coming back to the campus for the evening, we encountered something confusing.

We could see the university’s football team practicing, and there was a man on the field with a huge drum. A drum so big you could crawl inside it. For a few moments, we were perplexed, then it “hit” me, I knew what was going on.

While the team was stretching, a coach would hit the drum, the players would feel the vibration and change their positions. After doing some research days later, I found out the team uses the drum to communicate during games as well. Since the players can’t respond to a voice command to start the play, a coach on the sideline hits the drum to initiate the snap of the ball.

The Gallaudet Bisons are the only hearing impaired college team in the country.

Similar to the sound waves felt in the chest of each football player, our actions influence the hearts of those around us. Like a stone tossed into a lake, what we do ripples beyond where we assume it will reach. What we do in life reverberates through the lives around us.

Many of us are in influential positions due to our careers or titles. But everyone has influence. And for all of us, how we live communicates more clearly than we realize.

In the normal life of just under 80 years, an average person will meet around 75,000 people in some capacity. I realize that sounds like a lot of people, but the research confirms these numbers. From family, close friends, acquaintances, doctors, mechanics, servers at restaurants, all the way down to the strangers you greet in a store or on the streets every day.

What that means is this, you could fill a football stadium with the people you will have at least some contact with in your life. Even if it’s just a kind word instead of ignoring them. Imagine standing in the middle of that stadium with a microphone and the capacity crowd goes silent, waiting for what you would say to them.

The reality is this, each of us has that opportunity over our lifetime.

So, encourage, uplift, inspire, educate, coach, lead, listen, speak, sing, write, paint, rescue, heal, counsel, and reach like you’re making an impact.

Because you are.

When you live by the beat of your own drum, the world can feel it.

-Tom Wise

*Photo credit, Yahoo Sports 2013

Message In A Minute: Find Your Calcutta

Our church has a ministry where we collect prom dresses to give to girls who can’t afford a new one.

My wife started the ministry a few years ago. It went from a few dresses and a girl or two, to hundreds of dresses and multiple girls stopping by almost weekly to select a dress for a school dance or event. We now have jewelry, shoes, and make up for them also.

Many of the ladies in the church eagerly wait to help the girls who come in when we have a publicized give away event. And some ladies agree to meet girls mid-week so they can try to find the right dress.

A few weeks back, I was in the church library working on my sermon. I could hear my wife and another lady helping a couple girls and their families. These particular girls were going to a special needs prom and accommodations had to be made to assist the girls in trying on the dresses. I was on the second floor and they were on the third.

I’m telling you, I could hear the joy and excitement in each voice. Not just from the girls getting dresses but from the two that volunteered to help the girls. The servants were enjoying it as much as those receiving the service.

It is said, “Love what you do and you will never work a day in your life.” There is a lot of truth to that. But in a deeper way, we can lose ourselves in serving others and find blessings we never knew were possible. Each of us should find a way to serve others, it gives perspective, it energizes our soul, and most of all, it makes an impact in the lives we serve.

The dress ministry has opened the door for us to help the girls in other ways. It’s amazing the difference our ladies have made in young lives by simply meeting a need. Many of the families couldn’t afford the dresses any other way, a few of the families need way more than just a dress.

Mother Theresa spent most of her life serving the poor in Calcutta, India. She ministered to those who were terminally ill with HIV/AIDS, Leprosy, and Tuberculosis. Her ministry included soup kitchens, dispensaries, family counseling programs, and orphanages.

When Mother Theresa was asked if more people should abandon their lives and move to Calcutta to help, she famously replied something like this. “Your Calcutta is every heart you touch, find your Calcutta.”

God may ask you to do big things in life, be willing if He leads. But more than likely, He will ask you to do smaller things motivated by love. Most of those acts will go under the radar. No fan-fair, no applause, no reward here on earth.

You may cross the world to help the poor, you may only have to cross the street. You may encourage crowds of people, you may encourage one at a time. You may serve in a bright spotlight, or in the shadows.

The most important thing is this, find your unique way of serving others. Your talents, your experiences, your passions, are yours for a reason. And that reason goes way beyond your own benefit.

We were designed to receive God’s love and share God’s love.
We were made to find joy in lifting others up.
We were created to reach the least, the last, and the lost.

Find a way to impact those in need, one person at a time.

Find your Calcutta.

-Tom Wise

Message In A Minute: Reach For Them

I’m a knife fanatic.

I have a collection of pocket knives. Too many honestly. While I only carry one at a time, I own more than a dozen.

Some of them are just a handle and blade, others are multi-tools with more options than a Chinese buffet.

I have one that I carry almost every day, Its a Victorinox Swiss Army Knife Ranger model. Along with the knives, scissors, and saw, it has items added to it. Like green polymer scales, an eye glass screwdriver, straight pin, ink pen, and a fire steel. It has everything I need daily, and enough extras for me to pretend like I’m MacGyver.

I walked into the bathroom yesterday, the lid was up on the toilet and that knife, my favorite, it fell in. I watched it tumble, I couldn’t react fast enough to stop it, it made a splash and it went right to the bottom. Even though the toilet was in the unused condition (if you know what I mean), it was gross to think of what I had to do.

I had no choice, for one thing it’s a good knife, secondly, the toilet won’t work in the future with a knife in it. I had to grab it.

I cleaned the knife, and cleaned it, and cleaned it. Then I washed my hands, and washed them, and washed them.

The knife is fine, it’s clean and dry now, I’ll carry it tomorrow. But the whole accident instantly taught me something.

Certain things are worth reaching for, even if you have to reach through something disgusting.

Some people are in circumstances that no person should be in, but they are worth reaching for. Some people even put themselves in conditions that are inhuman, but they are worth reaching for. Some would say, you can’t end a sentience with a preposition, but even they are worth reaching for.

I love the fact that Jesus implied His church would be established next to the gates of Hell, and Hell would not defeat it. God can reach into our Hell on earth and pull us out.

Christians often say they want to be the hands of Jesus.

Those hands were often dirty, touched people whom society deemed unclean, and received the worst humanity could offer.

But they still reached out to people of every type, in every situation. Figuratively those hands are still reaching.

Don’t give up on anyone, no one is too far gone, too lost, too covered up in the mess.

Pray for them, encourage them, and when it’s appropriate, reach into Hell itself to offer a way out.

They are worth it.

-Tom Wise