A Word With You Ron Hutchcraft Ministries, Inc.

When a little child gets home later than they're supposed to, you know there's going to be something on the other end. There's going to be a worried and not very happy parent waiting for them. I heard recently about a little girl who got home unusually late from school only to find a daddy who was, of course, not happy at all. He asked the little girl why she was late. She said, "Because my friend broke her dolly." Her dad said, "Oh, okay, so you stayed with her to fix it?" He didn't expect her gentle little reply, "No, Daddy. I stayed with her to help her cry." I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "A Shoulder to Cry On." You may know someone right now who needs a friend like that; someone to help them cry. It's part of being a follower of Jesus actually to be that kind of friend, that kind of coworker, that kind of person in your family. Paul talks about this caring, sensitive, unselfish lifestyle in our word for today from the Word of God in Romans 12:15. Here's what He says, "Rejoice with those who rejoice: mourn with those who mourn." When you're rejoicing, you need someone to share your joy. When you're hurting, you need someone to share your burden. If you're a Jesus-follower, that's supposed to be you for the people you know. Because that's how your Master lived His life. He was actually attracted to people who were hurting. He followed the need. We don't always do this too well, do we? Look, you're probably like me. You've got a really busy life, you've got a full schedule. Someone who needs comfort and encouragement and who needs time...well, let's be honest. They can feel like an interruption, an intrusion, maybe even a nuisance. Those feelings in themselves are not a problem unless you allow those feelings to give you a hard heart and to make you unresponsive to a need that God has dropped into your life. Yeah, God has dropped into your life. And that's what it is: God is hearing someone's cry, God is feeling someone's pain, and God is sending to them one of His children to show them His love; one of His children like you. Which means that we can't be all rigid about our sacred schedules and plans and our "to-do" lists. We need this Spirit-led flexibility to stop for someone who needs a friend to "help them cry." People are a lot more important than tasks. One reason we don't move in next to someone who's hurting honestly is because sometimes we don't know what to say. You know, that really doesn't matter. Your job is to let them talk, to let them cry, to listen in a way that you can identify what that person needs right now, and then to see if you or someone you know can help with some of those needs. I've heard of a tribe in Africa where they have a wonderful custom. When someone dies, one of the elders of the village comes to the grieving family's hut and just sits there quietly for a couple of days. He doesn't say anything; he doesn't do anything, unless he is asked to. He's just there, and his presence alone is comfort. That's not a bad model. And strangely, what often qualifies you to be a comforter turns out to be the hardest things you ever faced in your life. Because you've been the one who cried, you can help someone else who's crying. You are God's wounded healer. Or as Paul says, "God comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God" (2 Corinthians 1:4). So would you like to be like your Savior, Jesus? Well, one way you can do that is to stop for people who need you, and be there to help them cry.

I really like football. I just don't have a lot of time to watch it. But you know, I watched a whole game that wasn't even my team! It was the Denver Broncos when they won that astonishing victory over the heavily favored Pittsburgh Steelers in a wild-card playoff game. But I was watching more than a football game; I was watching Tim Tebow and the drama that unfolded every time he took the field. That game was no exception. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Tim Tebow in All of Us." Now, Tim Tebow went from being America's top college football player to a much-critiqued rookie quarterback for the Broncos. When he replaced Denver's starter after a string of Denver losses, he led his team to seven wins, including six in a row. Several of those wins were "come from behind," last-second (well, they said) "miracle" victories, and then three consecutive losses in which Tebow performed pretty poorly. And then that playoff game where the Broncos were basically written off as having no chance. Somebody forgot to tell Tim Tebow. He exploded for 316 yards passing, 50 yards on the ground; he led his team to a stunning overtime victory. But the drama swirls around this unconventionally impressive quarterback has less to do with football than with faith. He's often in the news for his unashamed praise of Jesus Christ; especially his trademark response to good things that happen on the field. He knelt on one knee, his head bowed, a hand to his forehead. And after completing a game-winning 80-plus yard pass on the first play of that playoff game, he (well, you guessed it) took a knee. His God-praising, bent-knee posture had become part of our national vocabulary, "Tebowing." There's even a website dedicated to showing pictures of people "tebowing" all over the world; an expression of respect from most and mockery from others. In a sports world known for scandalous headlines about its heroes, it seemed no one quite knew what to do with a strong, consistent Jesus-guy like Tim Tebow. Until he got married, he was still a virgin. He was known for constantly encouraging and building up his teammates. He served the poor and the lost on missions trips and still does. He genuinely cared about others. And yet, he's a fierce competitor, a physical powerhouse and a passionate player. Is there any example here we should be following? You bet there is. Because this indomitable quarterback was, in many ways, a living, breathing model of what it means to be "Christ's ambassador" no matter what field we play on. Now we're ready for our word for today from the Word of God, 2 Corinthians 5:20, "We are Christ's ambassadors." First, Tim Tebow understood that the responsibility we have is divine positioning. We work where we work, we live where we live, we go to school where we go to school, we recreate where we recreate for a life-saving purpose, to, as the Bible says, "shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life" (Philippians 2:15-16). This "star" in the football universe says, "I'm going to take the platform that football has given me and try to give back with it and make a difference." Every person who belongs to Jesus has been given a "platform" to point people to their Jesus; your job, your medical or financial battles, your successes, your losses. Your situation is your assignment; your divinely conceived position to show the difference that Jesus makes. And Tim Tebow also modeled for us what it meant to have a radar for open doors. His eyes were wide open for circumstances that opened a door to talk about his Jesus. Our gridiron brother also shows us the power of show and tell. His life backs it up; he's known for his encouragement. He's known for his purity. This is a Jesus-follower who understands that you win the right to be heard by showing the difference Jesus makes. It's a brand of faith that shows, more than anything, the magnet of having an identity that is anchored to Jesus Christ. You l

"Frozen"! Yeah, that's a blockbuster Disney movie, but it was something else too. It was the headline for the record-busting winter of 2015 in a whole lot of the United States. Any time I heard myself starting to whimper over the long freeze, I just made myself think one thing - "Boston." We're talking a little over 100 inches of snow in just a few weeks! But out of those snowdrifts comes a really cool story with a big shot of hope to anybody who's listening who's gotten slammed in their life. Crystal Evans lives near what was snow-buried Boston, and a winter like the one that she was enduring could really have put her life on hold. But she didn't get that memo. She needs her wheelchair to get around because of the neuro-muscular disease that she has. And she needed to get to the post office. Wheelchair. Lots of snow. Ain't gonna happen. Really? Crystal put a snow shovel between her footrest, rolled her chair and cleared a path as she went! Then she looked back and realized what she, her wheelchair and her shovel had just accomplished. And then she said, "Well, I could clear sidewalks for everybody!" And she did - for over 100 hours! One place where her work was evident was at a bus stop that was treacherous for moms carrying small children and for elderly people. She cleared it so folks could get to a grocery store and a pharmacy. She wasn't the only snow angel in her town though. Her efforts actually inspired others to join her - some who came with their snowblowers. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Turning Your Hurt Into Hope." Crystal Evans did not let a paralyzing winter stop her. She didn't let a "disability" stop her. Instead, she found a way for her limitations to be used to bless other lives. Her wheelchair - with a little help from her shovel - became a snowplow, making a way for others. I believe that she has modeled hope for anyone who feels "disabled" by what's happened to them: disabled by a medical condition, by grief, by financial disaster. Turn your hurt into hope for other people. The Bible says that something transforming happens when we open up our pain to God's healing touch. He'll give us, in the words of Isaiah 61, "a crown of beauty for ashes, a joyous blessing instead of mourning, festive praise instead of despair" (Isaiah 61:3). And the "crud" of our lives becomes "crudentials" to bring hope to other hurting people. Which leads us to our word for today from the Word of God, 2 Corinthians 1:3-4, "God is the source of all comfort. He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us." Pity party canceled. No more "all about me." From now on, it's about how I can use the compassion that's come from my battles to lighten someone else's load. Walking the path Jesus did. The One the Bible calls "the Savior of the world" left this earth with something He did not come with: scars and nail prints in His hands and feet. He is not a distant God, watching us bleed. He bled. For us. For me. I can trust this suffering Savior. I can take all the hurt, all the sadness, all the sin of a lifetime and place it in those nail-scarred hands. If you've never had that transaction with Jesus where you give Him the life that He paid for on the cross, let this be the day that you let Him into all the sin and all the hurt. And let Him make you what the Bible calls "a new creation in Christ" - a new beginning this very day. You say, "How do I do that?" Would you go to our website and let me help you get that settled? It's ANewStory.com. And then hanging onto Jesus, we can start using our hurts to help clear a way for someone else. Then, as God says, I become "more than a conqueror" (Romans 8:37)!

Each of our kids has gone through a baking stage as they were growing up, and my wife and I got to sample some very interesting cookies, and cakes, or whatever they were. You know, new cooks have a hard time waiting for their first masterpiece to get done. They keep peeking, opening the door, checking on it, and even taking it out too soon. That just fouls up the temperature in the oven and you get results like a cake that's burned on the edges but gooey in the center. Or like our daughter baked...a cake that's flat. The young cook, at least one without a microwave, soon learns that impatience can ruin the final result. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "If You Rush It, You Ruin It." Our word for today from the Word of God, Genesis 16:1-2. And here we're going to find out the greatest obstacle to you getting God's best in your life. "Now, Sarai, Abram's wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian maidservant named Hagar." Now, time out here long enough for me to remind you that God had promised them a son that would come miraculously in their old age. Well, he hadn't come yet. So she said to Abram, "The Lord has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my maidservant.'" What? "Perhaps I can build a family through her. And Abram agreed to what Sarai said." You know what happened here? God's will was taking too long, like that cake or those cookies taking too long. So Sarai and Abram rushed it and they ruined it, and there has been lasting fallout that has lasted to today's newspaper. Two sons from two women, whose descendants to this day despise one another. They could have had God's best, but they tripped over the greatest obstacle to God's best - impatience, you just can't wait. See, God's plans are not microwavable. You might be waiting out God's will right now for someone to marry, for some breakthrough, for a prodigal or unsaved family member, for the money to come through, for a promotion, a raise, a job. And you're tempted to give God a hand right now. Remember, if you rush it, you may ruin it, because God is weaving a tapestry right now. He's working all things together for good. Ephesians says that "He will work out everything in accordance with His will." He is carefully, deliberately, skillfully putting your future together so you will be just the right person, at just the right place, at just the right time. But guess what? Just like Abraham and Sarah, you can blow the whole thing if impatience causes you to meddle in it. Make it a goal to not find any of your own fingerprints on your future. Only one set of prints - God's. See, your involvement could well become interference. Would you let God finish His masterpiece in His time? For He promises in Ecclesiastes, "He makes everything beautiful in its time." Impatience can, as young cooks often learn, ruin the final result. Oh, you'll love what God is cooking up. But please, don't try to rush it.

It was like 11 o'clock at night when I suddenly got this cryptic text from my son - "Please turn off your porch lights." Excuse me? Next weird thing - there are a dozen people in my front yard, all looking up at the sky. I can't really see them. I'm out in the country where dark is dark. But I can hear them. Then I get it. They've come from town to see the show in the sky. The northern lights. The aurora borealis. That spectacular display of colored lights, that's seldom seen in the lower 48. So I joined the party. Just like I did when we were all looking at that total solar eclipse. Remember? So I'm watching the news last night, which concluded with amazing northern lights photos from all over the world. But it was the anchorman's signoff that has had me thinking ever since, he said: "We've had a lot of reasons to be looking up recently." Whoa. And not just at the sky. "The world's on fire." You know I've heard that phrase again today on the morning news. I've been hearing it a lot. Gaza, Ukraine, Israel, Ivy League schools, tinder box politics, almost nuclear Iran, China, Russia on the move, doomsday warnings. World on fire. And it seems like our fire extinguishers are spraying kerosene. Is it any wonder that depression, anxiety, mental health issues, and even suicide are soaring? Conflict is dividing families... churches... communities. There's not much peace to be found just looking around. With so much chaos and loneliness and fear, it seems like we do have "a lot of reasons to be looking up." I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Eclipse, Colored Lights and Looking Up." Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Psalm 11:3-4, where it asks this: "When the foundations are being destroyed, what can the righteous do?" Listen to God's answer: "The Lord is in His holy temple; the Lord is on His heavenly throne." Well I'll tell ya, one thing is not shaking - nor can it be shaken. God is still in charge. He always has been, He always will be. Oh, yea I know we like to think we're in charge. Until things start spinning out of our control. One doctor's visit. One test result. One funeral. One financial hit. One storm. One child in trouble. One of those moments when all our "go-to's" just aren't there or just aren't enough. Like this week eight years ago for me. Sunday night, our oldest grandchild's honor student graduation from high school. Monday afternoon, my Karen, the love of my life was suddenly gone. I only knew life with her. I had no map for life without her. The waves of grief, I'll tell ya, they were overwhelming. Oh I had a family who loved me - but they were grieving, too. I had wonderful friends reaching out to me but, none of them could go to the places in my heart that were bullet-riddled and ripped wide open. But "the Lord was still on His heavenly throne." Far away? Oh no. Closer than anyone on earth could possibly be. For His Book told me: "The Lord is close to the brokenhearted, He saves those who are crushed in spirit" (Psalm 34:18). I looked up, and He moved close. My Jesus. Who promised, "I will never leave you. I will never forsake you" (Hebrews 13:5). When fear is winning, He is there with His unexplainable peace. When loneliness comes knocking, His love answers the door. When everything's crashing, He is my one safe place. I met Him at a cross where He loved me enough to die for my sin. I invited Him in and He came - because He's alive. His cross was followed by His empty tomb. And the Bible says of Him, "We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure" (Hebrews 6:19). If you don't have that anchor, if you've never begun a relationship with Him, would you go to our website and we'll show you how to begin with Him today. It's ANewStory.com. You know, we do have a lot of reasons to look up recently don't we? Because "up" that's where hope is.

He's a real American hero! He received America's highest military honor, the Congressional Medal of Honor, and He earned it, believe me. It was November 14, 1965, Major Bruce Crandall flew a Huey helicopter assigned to lift troops into Ia Drang, which was to become known, in Vietnam, as the "Valley of Death." His mission to deliver the troops was done. But pretty soon he realized the plight of those troops. There were 450 American soldiers hugely outnumbered by 2,000 enemy troops. Major Crandall began flying into that Valley of Death to bring out the wounded and to bring in ammunition. Before that day was over, he had flown for 14 hours straight - 22 flights barraged with enemy fire. It took three different choppers to do it all; two were too damaged to continue. One officer said, "Without Major Crandall, our battalion would almost surely have been overrun." Crandall simply said, "They knew we would come if they needed it no matter what." That's heroism. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Passion of a Powerful Life." Another officer in the Valley of Death that day bottom lined their heroic rescuer's work this way: "If he hadn't come, every man there would have died." But then, that's always the way it is with rescue, right? If the rescuer doesn't come, people die. When you hear sermons about "witnessing" or "evangelism" or "sharing your faith," you probably don't think, "I may be the difference between someone living or dying." You are. Here's God's clear command in Proverbs 24:11-12. It's our word for today from the Word of God. "Rescue those being led away to death; hold back those staggering toward slaughter. If you say, 'But we knew nothing about this,' does not He who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not He who guards your life know it? Will not He repay each person according to what He has done?" God gave His Son so we could be rescued from an eternal Valley of Death. He's really not interested in our excuses for not telling the people we know about the Christ that their eternity depends on. We're so scared of what might happen to us if we dared to tell them about Jesus. How about being a whole lot more afraid of what will happen to them if we don't tell them. God uses some sobering words to describe the lost people around us. In His own words, they are "staggering toward slaughter." According to Luke 19:10, they are "lost." These are people you know. They're "condemned" according to John 3:18. According to Ephesians 2:12, they're "Without hope and without God." And in 2 Thessalonians 1, they are those who "will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord." That's people we know, and it won't happen because that's what God wants. He sent His Son to take their hell. But they can't reach for Him as their Rescuer unless they know about him, unless someone explains what He did for them. Someone they know. Someone in their world; someone like you. We may think we're not responsible, but if you know a lost person, God holds you responsible and will, in God's own words, in Ezekiel 3, "hold you accountable for his blood." Maybe we think we're not capable. That's what Moses thought. And God says to you what He said to him, "I will be with you...Now go; I will help you speak and teach you what to say" (Exodus 3:10, 4:12). Look, you're not the hand. You're just a glove. You're just God's glove. He'll put His hand into your life and your influence and your story and your personality, and He'll do through you what you thought you could never do. You're just God's glove. Friends of ours, family members, coworkers, fellow students; they are, whether they know it or not, in the spiritual Valley of Death. God has put you in their world to help rescue them. Would you tell your Commander, "Lord, I will rescue the dying, whatever it takes, because You did!"