Category Archives: Message In A Minute

Message in A Minute: Honesty and Grace

I love the movie Forest Gump and I quote it often.

One of the scenes that always sticks with me occurs on a shrimp boat.

Forrest and Lieutenant Dan are having terrible luck catching shrimp. When they bring their nets up, all they get is garbage. Forrest decides to pray for shrimp and starts attending a church. Even after praying, the shrimp continue to elude the clueless deckhands.

Lieutenant Dan says to Forrest “where’s this God of yours”, and at that moment a violent storm hits. After a few miraculous circumstances occur, they have more shrimp than they ever imagined. Now that’s a great moment, but it isn’t the most interesting part in that section to me.

The part I’m thinking of may disturb some people but as a pastor, I love seeing it accurately portrayed. It’s the scene where Lieutenant Dan is high up on the boat’s mast, yelling at God. He is angry and openly questioning and challenging God.

Lieutenant Dan had been through some tragic times. He was likely depressed, full of rage, and hopeless. But, he didn’t give up, he kept working hard, even through the frustration. And I absolutely love the honesty demonstrated in the scene.

I’ve been there before myself. Not in the same circumstances and maybe not to the same level. But I understand anger, doubt, frustration and more, all directed towards God. I’ve expressed those very issues with God a few times.

The Old Testament is filled with complaints, doubts, and anger directed at God. People have questioned His supposed lack of involvement, His wisdom, His love, and His very nature. We shouldn’t be surprised something like that is portrayed in a movie.

We shouldn’t be surprised when we see it in real life.

God is big enough to take doubt or anger.
God is wise enough to handle our issues.
God is loving enough to see through our words into our broken hearts.

Later in the movie, Forrest says something about Lieutenant Dan finding his peace with God.

That’s what I would want for everyone.

I generally approach God in quiet humility, knowing He is completely holy, indescribably powerful, and wise beyond my comprehension. I suggest you do the same.

But every now and then, when life has ripped you apart, when you are at the end of your emotional rope, when you physically can’t take any more, when you feel hopeless, powerless, and useless.

Go to God.

Even if it’s in doubt or anger.

Because that is infinitely better than heading away from Him.

Be transparent with God, He can handle it.

Complete honesty from you and God’s amazing grace go together like peas and carrots.

-Tom Wise

Message In A Minute: Freedom To Choose

When I was young, I spent many Saturday mornings watching cartoons.

It was a weekly ritual involving animated stories, cereal, and pajamas.

I remember a universal idea being illustrated in quite a few of my favorite cartoons.

It goes like this, a character has an ethical decision to make, an angel appears on one of the character’s shoulders prompting a moral response. On the other shoulder a devil appears to tempt the character into a diabolical choice. Both are presented with apparently equal influence.

In a cartoon, it’s usually a humorous presentation.

In real life, this is a reminder of the power in our choices. In fact, great novels, award winning movies, and ancient mythology all explore some version of his idea.

The reason this idea is timeless is because it’s true.

Not literally of course. There isn’t an angel or demon on your shoulder.

But all of us struggle with moral issues,

In scripture, a man named Paul, who once hated and terrorized Christians, but later became a Christian describes the struggle like this…

“I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me…

I often refer to this section of scripture as the “Do Wah Diddy Diddy Dum Diddy Do” section. Because if you read it fast it’s like a song or tongue twister. It’s a little confusing to read but it speaks absolute truth.

We are complicated creations.

On one hand, we are made in the image of God, we instinctively know right from wrong, and we generally want to do the right thing. On the other hand, all of us have a selfish side, a side that will manipulate to get what we want, a side that goes against what we know is right. The Bible calls this our sinful nature. You may describe it differently, but it’s hard to deny its existence.

So, in a way, the angel on one shoulder and a devil on the other makes some sense.

But we don’t have to live this way.

There are philosophies, religions, and belief systems dedicated to making us better people. However, I believe Christianity is unique in its ability to change our inner bent towards self-centeredness. In Christ, God was reconciling us to Himself, in Christ, there is mercy for us all, in Christ, we become new creations.

It’s as if the angel moves from your shoulder into your heart and the little devil loses his right to hang around. You will still have the freedom to choose, but God makes it a lopsided showdown.

God offers love, acceptance, forgiveness, purpose, peace, and the power to be made new.

That’s an easy choice.

-Tom Wise

Message In A Minute: Poison or Peace

There is a large area in northern France where access is highly restricted.

This region is known as the “Red Zone”, it is over four hundred square miles of apparent viable farmland, but it literally holds a toxic history.

In World War I, this land was ground zero for battle after battle.

Germany and France had one of the longest and bloodiest battles in all of world history in this region. So many conflicts took place at this strategic location, it may never recover. It is reported that over the years, more than a million people, soldiers and civilians combined, lost their lives in what is now called the “Red Zone.”

Today, you can readily find rusted military ordinance, craters from exploded shells, and the remains of fortified bunkers. Poisonous chemicals have seeped into the soil and it will take an estimated five hundred years for the land to be considered habitable. After the war, instead of cleaning the land, it was deemed a casualty of war, and the residents who survived were forced by the government to relocate.

Sometimes, things get so ugly, no amount of clean-up will do.

Relationships may dissolve into toxic territories, places once considered safe can morph into dangerous ground, and habits formerly tolerated can end up ripping at the fabric of a healthy life.

You may be able to re-establish a relationship after forgiveness and healing, that’s a wonderful thing. But, not everyone will do the honest work of reconciliation. You may be able to go back to that place where something awful happened, but wisdom may lead you to avoid it altogether. You may be able to pick up a habit or hobby that once controlled you, but most of the time, it is wise to abstain completely.

If you’re a Christian, you are compelled to forgive, be it instantly or through an ongoing process.

But, the present choice to forgive someone, should never be permission for mistreatment in the future.

Grace is free, forgiveness can be total, but you don’t have to go back to the toxic places or people in your life.

You can show grace and at the same time set up boundaries that you demand be respected.

You can forgive and still move on from the source of the conflict.

You can live in today’s peace while avoiding the poison of yesterday’s war.

-Tom Wise


Message In A Minute: Take Him On

In the year 1985, a song and corresponding video were released and history was made.

The song was written by teenagers in Oslo, Norway a few years prior to it being a worldwide hit. The teenage boys had formed a band and knew they had a special keyboard riff. The words were added and the song completed very quickly.

After many attempts to release the song, producers and music executives were frustrated that the song never seemed to break through. The original video was simple and the band considered it boring.

The band switched their allegiance to a music producer from the United States. This producer had a great reputation for success. The band felt their work was finally in the right hands.

The new producer arranged for a creative new video to be made.

The video for The song “Take On Me” by the band “A-Ha” is considered groundbreaking and unforgettable. It is consistently near the top of every list of great videos. The song has been heard billions of times. The video is approaching one billion views on YouTube as of today.

The video took a couple days to shoot, but six more months to complete. Artists took the raw video and literally drew ten thousand pictures overtop of the scenes. Effectively creating a video that is part comic book and part real life.

When you believe in something, you keep trying, you keep pushing, you keep moving forward with it.

And when something is valuable to you, you should only trust it to the ultimate producer.

God can take your natural talents, your passions, and your experiences, arrange them His way, and create a life that will stand the test of time.

You have gifts and talents that can be used to bless the world around you.

Take God on, give Him every success and every failure.

Then watch Him produce something that impacts the world.

-Tom Wise

Message In A Minute: Prepared

Rumor has it, sometime in 1982, guitarist Eddie Van Halen was asked by the King of Pop, Michael Jackson and producer Quincy Jones to play the guitar solo for the song “Beat It”

The story goes like this, Eddie was reluctant at first but then agreed. Never hearing the music, he showed up at the studio. He slightly rearranged the part he would be playing guitar over, then took less than 20 minutes to create the solo you hear on the song.

Some say, it was “just one take” then a few fixes after that.

That is talent for sure but it is also someone who was very prepared, he knew his instrument very well.

The Bible repeatedly says we are to encourage one another. It talks about being prepared to give good answers to sincere questions about faith.

That’s significant for many reasons, but one day, maybe you will be asked an important question by someone who needs an answer.

Are you prepared?

You can be ready very easily, you don’t need to know every scripture or every philosophical thought.

Just spend some time today thinking about God’s blessings in your life, what He’s brought you through, and a scripture that has been meaningful for you.

Follow Christ closely, then be ready to share your story.

You might hit the perfect notes at just the right moment, all because you know Him so well.

That would be quite a “Thrill(er)” wouldn’t it?

-Tom Wise