Author: danlewiston

I am a Christian! I am a Husband! I am a Father! I love my family, baseball, food, and people!

The Status Quo…

July 2, 2025

One of my favorite movie series is the “National Treasure” movies. I know that they are not popular with a lot of people, but I love them.

While I love history, and a good story, these movies are the greatest blend of both. I do realize that what we see in those movies is not even close to historical fact (at least that we know of 250 years after the movie period), and most of the set and stunts are not even close to be able to happen without a miracle… Miracle by definition by Cambridge… “an unusual event that is caused by God, because it doesn’t follow the usual laws of nature.”

There is a couple of lines in the movie that I have captured my thoughts today..

Patrick Gates (Father): Cooperation only lasts as long as the status quo is unchanged. As soon as this guy gets to wherever this thing ends… he won’t need you anymore, or… or any of us.

Ben Gates (Son): So we find a way to make sure the status quo changes in our favor.

Patrick Gates (Father): How?

Ben Gates (Son): I’m still working on it.

Patrick Gates (Father): Well, I guess I better work on it too, then.

You see, Miracles change the status quo in any given situation or scenario…

Status Quo by definition by Websters… “the existing state of affairs.”

Otherwise known as “It is what it is”.

Is that really true, it is what it is and that is it. It can’t be different. It can’t be changed. It just is, words, emotions, feelings like these…

Helpless. Hopeless. Hurt. Painful. Pain filled. Pressed. Tired. Torn. Tormented. Questioning. Qualmish. Quieted. Lifeless. Lost. Lust. Wandering. Wavering. Weary. Exhausted. Excluded. Exiled. Bitter. Blamed. Burned. Angry. Anxious. Abandoned.          (Insert your words…)

No matter how hard we work at these words, most of the time we get deeper into them, not freedom from them. We just wish that status quo would change in our favor…

At a later point in the movie National Treasure, Patrick Gates says to his son… “The status quo has changed, son!”

That leads me to this verse that the Holy Spirit whispered to me about 25 minutes ago, as I was wrestling with my own set of words that were growing deeper and deeper… at moments darker and darker…

Romans 5:6 (NLT), “When we (I) were (was) utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us (me) sinners (a sinner).”

Yes, He saved us!

Yes, we were utterly helpless.

Yes, we were destined for eternal separation from God.

Status quo seemed impossible.

But the status quo changed…

But the status quo changed in our favor…

HE CHANGED the STATUS QUO IN OUR FAVOR!

Christ…at just the right time…changed the status quo! Not just for you and I, but for all of humanity, for all of history, everyone, everywhere, YOU and me!

He is the Author of MIRACLES!

Now that is a HISTORICAL FACT!

Call of the WILD!

June 15, 2024

I have read Call of the Wild a 100 plus times. I love the book. I am intrigued with the book. I lose myself in the Dog – Buck! Especially what he was going through at this particular point at the end of the story…

“Again Buck knew them as things heard in that other world which persisted in his memory. He walked to the centre of the open space and listened. It was the call, the many noted call, sounding more luringly and compelling than ever before. And never before, he was ready to obey. John Thornton was dead. The last tie broken. Man and the claims of man no longer bound him!” Then the story ends, Buck running with a pack of wolves, free…yet not to be forgotten by the Yeehats who referred to him as The Ghost Dog!

It’s the call! The call almost haunts me, it drives me, it confounds me, it sometimes frustrates me. I am ready for something, something that I cannot explain. More, different, it is not the more or different of a ministry or position, it is the more or different that I feel that something is calling to me to jump, to run, to go into a place that I have yet to encounter. I want to be used so intensely, so powerfully, so much so that I am walking the steps of scripture. I want to build a monument of lives that last for all eternity. I want to be apart of a team of men and women that run together in harmony, not frustration. I want to put a dent so big in the kingdom of hell that they cannot register what just hit them!

Have you ever been there? What fills the void that surrounds the non-fulfillment of that call? I know I am hitting you cold today, just some thoughts that invade my world right now, as I sit in an ivory tower, safe, protected, while there are people all around hearing the same call and have no idea that it is the Savior crying out, longing for them, desperate for their relationship. Wanting to have them run with HIM!

Listening to the Silent, but ever so loud Call of the King!

 

B1 2024 Bible Reading Plan

January 3, 2024

One of the great ways to start off a New Year, is to start it off fresh in the Word of God! Please join B1 Church in reading the Bible cover to cover in 2024! It is truly a journey that you will not forget, and you will want to do this, year after year!

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I Met 3 Warriors Today…

January 9, 2023

Today in the GREAT State of Texas, I met 3 warriors. I would like to tell you about them…

The 1st Warrior, wow what a warrior he is! At the age of 15 & 16 & 17, he made a series of bad decisions. Drugs, Alcohol, Rebellion, and Anger caused him to lose his freedom and spend time in the the Juvenile Courts, “Juvy” Detention, and then as the Judge said to him, “Big Boy Jail”. So he joined the Army, then became an Army Ranger and served in US Special Operations for over 10 years. In his post military career, went back into a life of mischief, then Christ changed his life. Now he Pastors one of the nations largest Prison Ministries, and completely has an ETERNAL lease on his call. He said to me today, “I am ADDICTED to Prison Ministry!” He went from fighting the law, to fighting for freedom, to taking it to the enemy of our souls! As of today, I get to call him friend!

The 2nd Warrior, wow what a warrior he will be! This warrior is young, and still finding his way. At age 15 & 16 & 17, he made a series of decisions that didn’t land in jail behind metal bars, but has landed him behind bars of an emotional and spiritual nature. He is plagued with rejection, insecurity, fear, and loneliness. He is surrounded by people that desire to see the King work in him and through him, but haunted by a past of mediocrity and lack of excellence. He feels like he doesn’t measure up in many avenues of his life, yet he hears all the time that he is the Kings’, and that there is a plan that will be great, if he will simply stay on His path. He is going from “How will I make it, to I hope I make it, to I know the King is not giving up on me – I WILL MAKE IT! This warrior is finding his identity, and you will know him soon enough!

The 3rd Warrior, wow he doesn’t feel like a warrior most days, because he feels like inside the armor he wears, there is just child. Scared, humbled, confused, paralyzed by fear, called by God, overcoming the noise of his own mind, ready for the calling and the passions to line up, hoping, yearning, grasping for constant truth, longing for a relationships that surpass the surface of life, and so many other self afflicted wounds. Yet with all of it, he has a confidence, still that the King has called him and desires to fulfill that call. This warrior, is me.

Today, I realize that warriors come in all shapes and sizes, in all stages of life. Warriors believe they are never out of the fight. You see the warrior keeps on fighting and never gives up. The warrior never surrenders. The warrior doesn’t leave their brother behind. The warrior carries the warrior that is wounded, broken, on his last breath. The warrior gives quickly and receives only what he has to in order to live another day. The warrior is not afraid to stoop to a place of humility and service, and not afraid to give their life for another. The warrior doesn’t keep a record of wrong, but lives his life in love. The warrior fights for the heart of the King, because the King is LOVE. The warrior is powerful, because the warrior’s King is LOVE! The warriors greatness is not in his own ability, but in the GREATNESS of the KING!

You see the 2nd and 3rd Warrior, want to be like the 1st Warrior, fiercely fighting for the King.

The 2nd Warrior is on his way to being like Warrior #1, as he fights for the King.

The 3rd Warrior is simply try to stay in the fight for the King.

But here is the real TRUTH…

All three of us are SIMPLY the King’s Sons!!!

The King loves His Sons, and simply wants the Sons to keep their eyes on Him!

Because, the King is Worthy!

Because the Sons lead the way to the King!

Because the King gave His life for them!

Because the King is Love!

So how about it WARRIOR – SON… Never Give Up, Never Surrender, Never Quit! You are more than an overcomer!

Here for you, from Far Away!!!

September 23, 2022

Jesus wants to be there for you, not from a distance, but right next to you! He desires to be with you every waking moment of every day, and in every circumstance!

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That Spot You Are In…

August 13, 2022

So…that spot you find yourself in today. 

Stop and look at the plan from His perspective. 

Find the path that He has planned for you to walk in. 

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Broken Things…

March 15, 2022

Powerful thought that in the midst of our own personal “Check Engine Light” being on and bright, our pain, our brokenness, our own fragility in this life…

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More Than a Cool Tattoo!

January 2, 2022

His perfection, overtakes our imperfection!

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Tossed Salad

November 10, 2021

This morning I got my morning routine going. Alarm, Shower-n-Shave, make my lunch, and then breakfast!

Most of the routine was “normal”. Then I started making my lunch…

Lunch, normally is a salad. I have (in my opinion) mastered the art of salad making. A handful of Spinach, some diced Tomatoes, a stick of Celery, 5 small Red & Orange Peppers, 1/3 of Cucumber, a couple slices of Smoked Ham, a dusting of Parmesan Cheese, a drizzle of Extra Virgin Olive Oil, and a splash of Balsamic Vinegar. Then 4 or 5 sprinkles of crushed Red Pepper!

A salad made in Heaven, well Tennessee…LOL!

I typically chop and dice everything on a plate. Put my Spinach in the square Rubbermaid bowl, then combine the contents of the plate into the bowl. As I was chopping the Red & Orange Peppers – around an already full plate of other diced veggies – I put a little too much pressure on the edge of the plate. 2/3 of the content of the plate…right to the floor!

I didn’t cuss, I didn’t erupt, I didn’t even gasp. I paused, gathered the “tossed” salad into a pile, put it down the disposal, washed the kitchen floor, and started again, putting each ingredient into the bowl, so as not to repeat my blunder!

2nd attempt – SUCCESSFUL! I cannot wait for lunch today!

As I sat to eat my breakfast, I began to replay the mornings mishap, and I asked God, “Why?” As I sat in silence, the scriptures began to speak to me…

1 Peter 5:6&7 (NIV), “6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. 7 Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.”

Just like my tossed salad this morning, I want to encourage you to “TOSS” your anxiety on Jesus, because he CARES for YOU!!!! 

The word “CAST” in 1 Peter 5:7, literally and figuratively means to throw upon, toss to, give away quickly – I think you get the picture!

Give Him your anxiety today! 

Give Him the mishaps today!

Give Him the “I can’t believe that just happened to me” moments today!

Give Him all of you today!

Why…

He cares for YOU!

So, go make yourself a salad, put all the things in it, and enjoy the masterpiece you created. And the Master will enjoy caring for you today!

His Better Words

October 29, 2021

The words we say…

The words we hear…

The words we read…

What about the words He speaks over us!

Eph. 3:20 (MES), “God can do anything, you know – far more than you could ever imagine or request in your wildest dreams! He does it not by pushing us around, but by working within us, His Spirit deeply and gently within us.”

Listen to His Better Words for you life!!!

Then Decree Them OVER Your Life!

Blue Skies Are Coming!

October 28, 2021

These 2 pictures are taken literally 30 seconds from each other.

The ”Orange Sky” is what I saw when I opened the door this morning to leave at 7:15 AM.

I literally walked down the driveway & looked left 90 degrees towards the end of our street, & I saw these “Blue Skies”!

Same sky, different direction!!!

Ps. 119:1-3 (MES), “1 You are blessed when you stay on course, walking steadily on the road revealed by God! 2 You are blessed when you follow His directions, doing your best to find Him. 3 That’s right – you don’t go off on your own; you walk straight along the road He set!”

“Stay on Course”, Blue skies are coming!!!!

Make Your Mark

June 4, 2021

Are you a catalyst? Do you change your surroundings or do they change you.

Let’s do a science experiment today. Take a pot, any size and boil some water in it. First take some sliced carrots and put them in the water, 11 minutes later, what happens – the carrots get soft. Next take same boiling water and put some eggs in there for 11 minutes. What happens – the eggs get hard. In both scenarios the surroundings changed the product.

Now take some boiling water and put some coffee grounds in for 11 minutes. Amazing what you find, the water is completely changed – taste, color, and smell. The product completely changed its surroundings! Sounds like a catalyst to me!

Webster’s Dictionary says, “Catalyst: something or someone that causes events to happen with itself being changed.”

Kathy Lee Clifford once talked about the lasting impact that her late husband and NFL Great Frank Gifford had left on people. She said, “Frank’s world got smaller, as his God got bigger!” She then went on to talk about a trip that she and her husband went on the Holy Land. They visited the spot where David defeated the giant Goliath. For Christmas that year, graduation, and birthdays – Frank gave people stones. A picture of faith that represented to Frank of making your mark, having purpose, and being whom God made you to be! 

You can find that video here: (http://www.today.com/video/watch-kathie-lees-touching-tribute-to-husband-frank-gifford-506707523589) 

Many of us are looking for the next place to leave our mark. To make a difference. To be the next greatest in the field that we find ourselves in. I want to challenge you to something a little more meaningful than money, position, sport, or title. Something deeper than all of that stuff that you cannot take with you when you die.

I had a mentor/coach tell me once, “Dan, you are going to the wrong thing – people will be mad at you. You will do the right thing, people will be mad at you. You will do nothing at all, people will be mad at you. So you should just go ahead and do the right thing after all!” You are going to leave a mark, a good one or a bad one. The important part is are you going to make your mark for yourself or for the Kingdom of Heaven!

Acts. 13:36 (NLT) says this, “…after David had done the will of God in his own generation, he died…”

We all end up in the same spot when it is all said and done, standing before God, facing the music as to how we “Made our Mark”. So, the question of the hour is will we live for us or will we live for the One who died for us? One you answer that question. I just know that I want to live for the One who died for me and saved me and changed me!

Don’t settle for letting life soften or harden you, but take “the will of God for your generation” – and change it!

A day that changed everything!

April 4, 2021

The tomb is empty…

Neither Herod nor Pilate knew what to do with Him.

Then His own people tried to cancel Him.

Remember the tomb couldn’t hold Him, because death couldn’t keep Him!

Why? His love for you and I is what motivated Him!

Oh How He Loves You!

Sunday is here, and He Is Alive!