I opened my morning paper today to dismay and disbelief. “Mr. Padre” and all around good guy, Tony Gwynn, died yesterday after a bout with cancer. It appears that his drug of choice killed him.
The article stated, “Even while battling cancer, Gwynn talked of how strong the craving for ‘chew’ (aka smokeless tobacco) could be.”
In a 2011 interview, Mr. Gwynn said, “It’s probably the hardest thing I’ve had to deal with. The cravings are still there. I’ve had to try and fight them.”
The article ended with this, “Maybe that will be one of Gwynn’s last and strongest messages. Hopefully anyone using smokeless tobacco, or thinking of trying it, will pay careful attention.”
I also read the following quote today from someone who didn’t even know about Mr. Gwynn’s passing, “You are the instrument of your own wreckage.” Though I am a die-hard LA Dodger fan, I’m going to miss “Mr. Padre” from San Diego. Hopefully, we’ll all hear his last message loud and clear: deal with your drug of choice now or you could pay a heavy price later.
Set “FREE” Nowww

Sometimes the situations we face seem minor while others seem quite major. How we handle the minor ones determines whether they will become major or not.
How so? We often handle the minor ones on our own and run the major ones by Jesus. There is one problem with this line of thinking – minors can lead to majors if we’ve not trained ourselves to filter all decisions through the FREEdom process.
Christ-like character (aka new godly habits) is formed by reasoning life through scripture, not reacting to its situations. As you’re in the Word listening for the lie-fighting truths Jesus gives you, you’ll be able to see life through His eyes. With each choice to exercise that that truth through the Spirit’s power, you’re forming Christ-like character, a new habit.
If you merely react to life without reasoning it through Scripture, how will know that the minor decision you made didn’t let a lie squeeze through a gap in your filter, which can lead to major bad habit later?
Jesus ran everything through His Father (Jn. 5:19). If trusting ourselves forms the bad habits, shouldn’t we follow His example to keep them from forming in the first place or overcoming them once there? Learn to reason life through scripture, not react to its situations.
Set “FREE” Nwww

Get sick? Go see a doctor for 15 minutes or less, who prescribes a pill. Got a problem? Watch a TV show that will solve it in 22-24 minutes, depending upon how many commercials they can sell. Hungry? Get fast food (whether it’s healthy or not is altogether a different story). We live in a fast paced society that wants answers and solutions…yesterday.
We can’t let that mentality creep into our thinking when it comes to our walks with Jesus. God laid out the physics of nature. If He chooses to override it, it’s called a miracle. Understand, though, miracles are by definition rare. If they were every day occurrences, they would be part of the physics that run the planet. If walking on top of the water happened everyday, we wouldn’t need flotation devices!
God also laid out the physics or process of life change. I believe it to be the Set Free Nowww process. As God, He can choose to override that process at anytime. The truth, however, is that the magic pill is rare. The everyday reality is that God wants us to exercise what Adam and Eve didn’t – to love Him enough to choose to listen to and follow Him wherever we are (Jn. 14:23).
Need your life changed? Pray for the pill, but start lovingly trusting Jesus today by choosing to use your biblical life change tools. Your life will be changed every time you do. And by the way, relax. It takes time to retrain your brain (Rom. 12:2)!
Set Free “N”owww

Someone once said, “Hold everything earthly with a loose hand; but grasp eternal things with a death-like grip.” Time is earthly. It’s a physically created property, which ends when we leave this planet. Its final demise comes with the new heaven and earth.
Some try to take possession of time by cramming lots of stuff into blocks of it with the hope that their existence on this planet will have meaning, that they will have left their mark on history, a measurement of time. There are those who squander time knowing that how they live on this planet will never be remembered anyways, so why care about it in the first place. And finally there are those who use time somewhere in the middle of the two.
Jesus said He is the beginning and the end of time (Rev. 21:6) and to rest in Him (Matt. 11:28-30). He never said that we’d sit and do nothing; thus squandering our time on this planet. Neither did He say that we’d work our hands to the bones trying to meaning from life through lots of activities. He did say that His yoke is easy and His burden light.
We are to live each day in His presence, the true meaning of resting in Christ. We are to enjoy Him as we do the “good works” He created us to do each day from eating breakfast in the morning (1 Cor. 10:31) to praising Him as we head off to sleep at night (Ps. 63:6). He doesn’t need us to do anything for Him. He wants us to do everything we do with Him.
We can never possess time, but we can let Jesus possess us. What we do with Him each day, no matter where we find ourselves, has eternal, or timeless, value today. Learn to live with Jesus today, not for Him, by using your biblical tools to let go of the earthly to hold onto the eternal.
S“E”t Free Nowww

Someone tweeted this to me today, “Jesus is the reason why: in pain, I smile; in confusion, I understand; in betrayal, I trust; and, in fear, I push forward.”
If this is true in your life, it means you have a faith that works in the real world as all those things happen in our day to day lives. If not true, could it be that you have a Sunday only faith that needs to expand to Monday?
We live in enemy territory where our smiles can turn in to frowns, confusion can make our eyebrows turn up, betrayal can rip out our hearts and fear can make us cower. Don’t let this happen! More of these situations will come your way. Using your biblical tools today to process life through the victory fighting truths the Spirit shows you gives you the ability to live out what you believe today and tomorrow.
Let’s show those around us that Jesus is making such a difference in our lives that they can’t help but ask, “What makes you smile when you’re in pain, remain calm when confused, stay strong when betrayed and push through your fears?”
Set Free No“W”ww