One of our team members is quite the woodsman and hiker. And one foggy Saturday morning, he volunteered to lead a group of men who wanted to go hike to this distinctive rock formation called Hawksbill Crag. He had the book on the trails in that area; a book written by the man considered the expert. My friend kept consulting the book as they went along, pretty confident that they would soon end up at Hawksbill Crag. They ended up lost in a poison ivy patch, and the fog wasn't helping much. As they tried to retrace their steps, they passed a house set back in the woods and they happened to see its owner outside. My friend called to him and asked him if he would help them get "un-lost." That man went above and beyond. He actually came to where they were, helped them make sense of the map that they had, and pointed them right to the trail that got them to their goal. Of course, it turns out he was the man who wrote the book.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “When You Can’t Find the Trail.”

Those men finally found the trail they needed to be on from the person who knew the trail best. There's not one of us who doesn't need that same kind of direction for our life! Most of us have lived long enough to have already tried several trails that looked good to us, that we were sure would lead us to the meaning we were looking for, and to the love we were looking for, and to the inner freedom and peace we've always wanted. But so far, no trail has led us there. We're lost. In fact, some of us have found ourselves standing in poison ivy rather than looking at the beautiful view we had hoped for.

But all the dead-end trails you've tried, all the fog, all the disappointments, all the brokenness, have been preparing you to meet the person who knows the trail better than anyone else. And He has our word for today from the Word of God. It's Jesus, of course, and we're reading His words in John 8:12. "Jesus said, 'I am the light of the world. Whoever follows Me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.'" So, Jesus is offering here a relationship with Him that opens up that awesome possibility of being led by the very person who designed us in the first place, who wrote the book of our life.

So you don't have to "walk in darkness" any more. The problem is that we've all, as the Bible says, "gone astray; each of us has turned to his own way" (Isaiah 53:6). We're lost. We're wondering which way is the right way because we've consistently chosen to go our own way instead of God's way. That's what the Bible calls sin. And we were never meant to blaze our own trail. There's a trail you were made for. But following our own trail has left behind us a trail of brokenness, guilt, restlessness, scars and tears. And ultimately our trail leads right over a cliff into an eternity without God and without hope.

But Jesus left His home in heaven to come where we are to actually give His life to pay for every wrong thing we have ever done. And today He is saying to you, "Will you follow Me from this point on? I'll forgive your sin, I’ll come into your life, and I’ll lead you on the trail you were created for." You'll have to resign from being your own guide; from depending on your religion to get you to heaven, and you just tell Jesus, "I'm Yours, Lord. I'm pinning all my hopes on You. You died for me. You've got me."

It may be that you’re just tired of wandering, tired of feeling lost…off the right trail, and you are ready for the life you were made for. This is the day you can reach out to Jesus Christ, who will bring you into that very life that has your name on it. It begins when you say to Him, “I’m Yours.”

Your new story could begin today. Our website is called ANewStory.com because it's all about helping you get that story started. I hope you go there today - ANewStory.com.

Don't walk any further down a trail that ultimately goes nowhere. You don't have to be lost one more day. With Jesus out in front from now on, you will finally be able to find what you've been looking for all this time.

The church we attended in New Jersey grew a lot over the years. So much so, that it was hard to spot visitors. So, our pastor would ask first-timers to stand and introduce themselves right where they were. He'd take one section of the sanctuary at a time, and ask the visitors to stand and introduce themselves.

Well, our family brought our share of visitors, and many of their faces went through three or four colors when they were asked to stand up! We brought Nancy one day. When the pastor mentioned standing up, we gave her that “How about it, Nancy?” She gave us a look back. I would interpret it as saying, “No way!” Well, you can’t blame people. I mean, most of us have a pretty great fear of being conspicuous, and hey, what if no one else stands?

I’m Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “When You're the Only One Standing.”

Our word for today from the Word of God comes from the book of Daniel 3:1. “King Nebuchadnezzar made an image of gold, ninety feet high and nine feet wide, and set it up on the plain of Dura.” Okay, now, a decree went out that everyone was supposed to bow down to this image. Here’s how the decree went: “As soon as you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipes and all kinds of music, you must fall down and worship the image of gold that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up. Whoever does not fall down and worship will immediately be thrown into a blazing furnace.” It goes on to say, “Therefore, everyone fell down and worshipped it.” Well, almost everyone.

Okay, get the picture. In verse 12, this complaint comes back to the king, “There are some Jews who you’ve set over the affairs of this province—Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego—who pay no attention to you, O king. They did not worship the image.” Here’s the scene, and it is incredible! This flat plain, this big statue, everyone’s on their knees, there’s no place to hide, and here are these three men standing. You talk about conspicuous! And they got heat for it…I mean literally. They got the furnace. And then verse 30 says, “Afterward the king promoted them.” What just happened here? The story has this happy ending!

Actually I think the King — that is capital K, The King — promoted them. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego should still be our heroes, because they had the courage to be the only one standing. Do you? Everyone else at your school, your office, among your friends may be bowing down to the gods of pleasure, money, sex outside of marriage, and increasingly you’ll have to be the only one standing. Don’t bow down.

There may be something even more difficult, though, than taking a stand among unbelievers, and that’s taking a stand among believers. See, the standards and boundaries are moving inside the church today too. Not just in our culture; the church is moving with the culture. God’s people are increasingly compromising on what they watch, and they listen to, and they talk about, and tolerate. Biblical standards on marriage, and divorce, and sexuality are drifting. Christians are tending to forget the lost, and they are retreating into a comfortable entertainment faith, “Just meet my needs.” Sometimes you even are being asked to bow down and compromise within the context of the church when the majority have followed the culture instead of Christ. But God’s truth has never been decided by a vote, and God’s truth hasn’t changed—and it won’t.

As sin seduces more believers, you’ll need the courage to feel a little old fashioned, a little lonely even at church, but you’ve got to remain standing. People sometimes feel conspicuous when they’re asked to stand at our church. Well, more and more, discipleship will mean what it did in Shadrach’s day: the courage to be conspicuous; to be, even among God’s people sometimes, the only one standing - but applauded by Christ.

It was the strangest picnic in American history I think. It was July 1861, on a hill in Northern Virginia, overlooking a stream called Bull Run. The Southern states had seceded from the Union, they’d attacked a Union fort in April, and now what the North called “the rebel army” was headed for Washington, D.C. Most people in the capitol thought the Union Army was going to mop up these Southern forces in a matter of weeks, and they wanted to see it happen as the Northern troops moved to engage the Confederates at Bull Run. They came from church in their Sunday best, the ladies and gentlemen of Washington arriving at the hill overlooking Bull Run in their carriages. They laid out their tablecloths, commenced their picnic, and started passing the fried chicken. Down below, the men in blue and the men in gray mingled their blood in the waters of Bull Run.

I’m Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “No Time For Picnics.”

How can people have a picnic when there’s a battle going on? That’s a question God must be asking of His own children—those who are supposed to be the soldiers in His army.

It’s a scene reminiscent of the day the ancient Jews were getting ready to invade the Promised Land, and a couple of the tribes asked if they could just take their inheritance on the safe side of the Jordan River and settle in there. In Numbers 32:6, our word for today from the Word of God, Moses asks them this haunting question, “Shall you sit here while your brothers go to war?” Well that’s a great question. How can you just settle into a comfortable little spot while there are battles to fight for God that require every one of us to be in the fight? A picnic while a battle is going on.

We were shocked that September 11, 2001, when nearly 3,000 Americans died in one day. Did you know that more than twice that many will die in America every day? On an average day in the United States, over 6,000 people go into eternity. Sadly, many—maybe most of them—will not be ready for eternity. Today in our world, over 150,000 people will go into eternity. Again, many with no relationship with Jesus and no hope of heaven. And there is a battle raging to get the Good News about Jesus to those folks in time!

There’s a small army of believers who understand that the battle is the responsibility of every one of us who belongs to Jesus. But, tragically, so many of those who could help rescue the spiritually dying are sitting on a hill with other believers, enjoying the view, passing the blessings, and playing no active role in the battle for human souls.

Yes, it’s true. God has to draw people to Him—spiritual rescue is totally a God-thing! But the same man who wrote the verses about us being chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world is the same Apostle Paul who was driven to get the Gospel to as many people as possible…even at the cost of his own life.

The battle for a lost world. You know where it begins? It begins with your own family, your own co-workers, fellow students, and friends. When it comes to telling them what you know about Jesus, silence is not golden. No, it’s deadly. They need to see Jesus in your life but they need to hear about Jesus from your lips.

You can’t just enjoy the fellowship of those who are already headed for heaven while so many around you are headed for hell! God has a place for you in this battle, my friend, and the battle is the Lord’s! For you, this is no time to be passing the chicken. It’s time to be passing the ammunition!

As that great missionary Amy Carmichael said, “We will have all eternity to celebrate our victories, but only a few short hours to win them.” And we are in those few short hours.

It's really a beautiful area of the southwestern United States, except for this one horrendous eyesore. It's a graveyard for cars. Acre after acre. They’re covered with cars that have been discarded, or wrecked, or crushed, and stacked several cars deep. And every time I pass this one and I see all these trashed and mashed cars, I can't help but thinking to myself, "Just think, one day that car was somebody's dream come true." Someone probably wished for that car, got that car, and showed everybody this car they were so proud of. Look at it now!

I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "Dreams On the Scrapheap."

When I look at that auto junkyard, I see what was once somebody's dream now just another piece of junk on the scrapheap. Some of us have lives that are like that junkyard; a pile of what was once our dreams, now laying on the scrapheap. Dreams that either didn't happen or didn't turn out to be what we thought they would; a lot of disappointment, discouragement, disillusionment, and as a result, a search now for a dream that won't let us down or maybe even won’t turn into a nightmare.

It's strange, in a way, that it's often at the end of our dreams that we find the reason we're living. Until then, we're pouring everything we've got into what we think will give us the love and meaning and fulfillment that we're looking for. But sooner or later, our path of dreams lets us down and it leaves us empty.

That's when we might finally be ready to consider what God thinks will make our life make sense. Since He's the One who made you, He's the One who knows why you're here. It was the dream He dreamed for you even before there was a you! It's the destiny you were made for, lived out one meaningful day at a time.

God actually talks about His plans for you in Jeremiah 29:11, our word for today from the Word of God. "'I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Those are the plans you were created for. Unfortunately, we've spent most of our life on our own dreams; a lot of which are now on the scrapheap. But now may be the time when you finally embrace what you were made for by embracing the One who made you; the One of whom the Bible says, "All things were created by Him and for Him" (Colossians 1:16). And that includes you and me.

But we've been building our life without the Architect, and things keep collapsing on us—disappointing us. We have, in the Bible's words, "gone astray" and turned to our "own way"(Isaiah 53:6). We've all gotten way off course and you know it took the greatest act of love in cosmic history to get us back—the death of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, for our rebellion, for our sin, for our takeover of a life God made.

The moment you reach out to this Jesus and tell Him you want to be His from now on, you start to belong to your Creator, to experience His forgiving for every wrong thing you have ever done. You start living God's great dream for your life when you give yourself to Jesus, the One who loved you so much He would die for all your sin.

I would say today would be the best day of your life to say “yes” to Jesus. To tell Him, "I am yours. After what you did for me, you loved me enough to die for me, you would never do me wrong. I'm ready to live the way I was created to live. Jesus, I'm yours."

Maybe you'd like a new story to begin for you today. Well, then why don't you go to our website which is called ANewStory.com. I think you'll find the information there that will help you be sure you belong to Jesus from this day on.

Those wasted days, wasted years, end the moment you open your life to Jesus Christ. For you, the dream that will never disappoint could begin this very day.

Did you ever do the bumper cars at the carnival? Our family loves bumper cars! When you first get in the bumper car, you start at approximately the same place. But when you step on the pedal, you take off in about ten different directions and occasionally bump into each other. That was a description of our family when we were all still living under one roof. A description of yours maybe, too? You know, a bumper car family! See, you start out at the same place in the morning, you step on the gas pedal, and off we would go in five different directions, and every once in a while we would just happen to bump into each other.

In our world today it is so easy to let families just fly apart. And as the kids get older and mom and dad get busier and busier and we need to work more to keep up our standard of living, a lot of times there’s less and less time spent together. And then add in the internet and social media! Without even knowing it, sometimes your family – my family – becomes a group of strangers. And then later on we look back with regret and we say, “If only I could have those years back. Why didn’t we spend more time together?” See, every family needs to be together, but it actually takes someone to blow the trumpet to make it happen.

I’m Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “Holy Huddles At Home.”

Our word for today from the Word of God is found in the book of Nehemiah 4. I’m going to be reading verses 19 and 20. If you remember a little of your Bible history, you may know that Nehemiah was God’s man to lead the people in rebuilding the dilapidated and destroyed walls and gates of Jerusalem. It was a major task. It had pretty much been a mess for about 100 years. It took a lot of major organization, and he was able to mobilize all those people, each with a different assignment. And in 52 days, this small group of people literally rebuilt the walls and gates of the city of Jerusalem.

Listen to part of the plan here as he gives instructions to his work crew. “Then I said to the nobles, the officials and the rest of the people, ‘The work is extensive and spread out, and we are widely separated from each other along the wall.’” Sounds a lot like the bumper cars syndrome; they all started out in the morning and they all went their separate directions. He says, “Whenever you hear the sound of the trumpet, join us there. Our God will fight for us.”

He said, “In my family of workers we’re going to need to get together. And so I’ll sound the trumpet, and when I do, come together.” Did you know that whenever there is a family that is spread out in their lifestyles like yours and ours, there’s got to be one person in the family who plays Nehemiah; someone who insists that the family comes together. Families are pulled apart unless somebody is willing to work at them being together, communicating, hugging each other, touching each other, praying together, keeping in touch with each other’s lives. It’s like a football team that has to regularly have a huddle. You can’t have a family without regular huddles.

So the person who sounds the trumpet is the person in the family who sets a time and a place and makes it happen to make sure that family comes together. If it doesn’t, people leave home with dangerous, unmet needs. They don’t have the closeness, the intimacy, the encouragement they need, and they’ll go looking for it in places they never should.

Now, biblically, this should be dad. In a single-parent family it may have to be mom. But certainly everyone in the family should come when the trumpet is blown. Dinner together, pre-committed days together, family devotions, vacation, prayer time. Don’t let your family be every man/every woman for himself or herself. Bring them together! Remember, every family needs that trumpet.

I've had lots of friends in law enforcement, and I've even had the opportunity to ride in the front seat with a police officer. But the experience I had recently had a totally different feel to it. I was speaking in a large youth festival, and I had to get across this festival's grounds quickly to my next speaking venue. Two police officers working security said, "Hey, hop in our squad car, we'll take you over there." Well, I jumped into the back seat of the police car and I quickly realized I had never experienced a little of what it feels like to be on the custody end of things like that. There was this wall between me and the officers in the front seat. When we arrived at our destination and I tried to open my door…in vain…there was no way. My officer friend had a good laugh. He said, "Ron, there's no way you can get yourself out of there. See, somebody has to let you out." Okay, I've decided I am not excited about being in the prisoner seat any more.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Only Way to Be Free."

"There's no way you can get yourself out of there." Well, that's a feeling a lot of us have experienced, without ever being physically locked up. It's like there are these hurtful emotional cycles and spiritual cycles that we just can't seem to get ourselves out of.

Maybe you know what it is to be trapped in a cycle of destructive behavior, or damaged relationships, or maybe a cycle of guilt and shame over repeated mistakes, or a cycle of slavery to a behavior you just can't seem to change, or a cycle of unfulfillment; where one experience after another just fails to give you the peace and the meaning you've always hoped for. There are no bars, no prison walls, but we know the feeling of being locked up in a way of living that we can't get out of. Just like a prisoner in a cell, or me in the prisoner seat of a police car, somebody has to let you out. And for 2,000 years, "the" Somebody has been doing that for millions of us spiritual prisoners.

In fact, in Isaiah 61:1, our word for today from the Word of God, He announced His reason for coming to earth this way: "The Lord has...sent Me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to captives and freedom to prisoners." Jesus understands the powerful force that ultimately keeps us locked up in our destructive cycles. He said, "Whoever commits sin is a slave to sin" (John 8:34). Sin is simply our hijacking of our life from the God who was supposed to run it. And because we're away from our Creator, we're trapped in this self-run orbit where life just doesn't work right.

It took the coming and the dying of the Son of God to break the enslaving power of sin. By taking the death penalty for what we've done, Jesus has the power, not only to save us from our own hurtful ways, but to save us from the eternal penitentiary the Bible calls hell. He's come from the outside to let you out, to set you free. But He waits for your invitation to do that; your invitation for Him to come into your life, to forgive every sin of your life, and to change you from the inside out.

That glorious freedom that so many have experienced, you can experience beginning this very day. It actually begins when you tell Jesus, "I am turning from my sin that has enslaved me, Lord; from the sin that nailed You to a cross. You had to do that to pay for my sin, and I know you walked out of your grave. You are alive! I want you to walk into my life today. I want to give myself to You because you died for my sin. I’m Yours beginning today."

Do you want a new story to begin in your life? I want to encourage you to go to our website - ANewStory.com. You're going to find some information there from God's very own words that will help you start on that road.

This could be your day to finally be able to say, "Free at last, free at last - thank God Almighty, I'm free at last!"

He might be America’s most famous bear – Smokey! Maybe you can picture Smokey Bear right there in his blue jeans and his Park Ranger hat. They used to have commercials like that all the time. He’s probably holding a shovel or he’s looking straight at you very soberly. And he’s saying, “Only you can prevent forest fires.” Actually Smokey has been a pretty effective spokesman, especially if we can think of his big line as soon as we think of him. Oh we’ll never know how many fires he’s prevented, but he’s drilled one very important idea into our heads. Take care of your fire; it could do terrible damage.

I’m Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “Fighting Fire When It's Small.”

Have you ever noticed the words we use to describe anger? “I’m really hot about this!” “Boy, he’s really steamed!” “She just blew her top!” “I was really burned up!” There’s this strong smell of smoke here isn’t there? And fire - the Bible has a lot to say about the fire of anger and how to control it. Our word for today from the Word of God, James 1:19 for example: “Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry. For man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires.”

Well, that’s interesting that it doesn’t bring about anything good, right? A rough translation or paraphrase might be, “You don’t do anything right when you’re angry.” In fact, isn’t it when you’re angry that you tend to make your biggest mistakes? Oftentimes you’ll also leave the deepest scars. You create some of the biggest regrets, and it’s when we’re angry that we most often hurt the people we love the most.

That’s why the Bible says in Colossians 3:8, “You must rid yourselves of all such things as anger and rage.” This isn’t just passively saying, “Well, I can’t help it. I lose my temper.” It’s saying, “Attack this thing! Get rid of it. Take it out like the garbage.” James 1 gives us some hints as to how. We could call these fire fighters for that anger fire inside of you.

First of all, it recommends a big ear. That’s the first fire fighter. It says, “Be quick to listen, and then you’ll be slow to become angry.” If you discipline yourself to listen before you speak, to ask two or three questions before you react you’ll be a lot more likely to tame your anger. Bite your tongue until you’ve heard the whole thing. A lot of “blow ups” come from misunderstanding; that’s where we get most of our exercise - jumping to conclusions. Have a big ear. If you’re quick to listen you’ll be slower to become angry.

I think the second fire fighter is the "cool down time out." That’s what I call it. It says, “Be slow to speak.” Take a step away before you respond; leave the room if you have to. Step away from the person. Step away from the situation. Take the cool down time out, and come back in and act instead of reacting.

And thirdly, here’s another fire fighter. I call it the “sundown clock.” The Bible talks about it in Ephesians 4:26. “Don’t let the sun go down while you are still angry.” See, anger never stays the same size. It always grows bigger. It will never be smaller than it is right now. So, get rid of it before you go to bed tonight. Deal with it. Get it out. Don’t stuff it inside. When you don’t act that way, well, Ephesians 4:27 kicks in, “Do not give the Devil a foothold.” Unresolved anger, when you go to bed at night, leaves Satan a wide open spot in your heart.

You and I have caused enough emotional forest fires in our lives haven’t we? And too many people have gotten burned. It’s time we draw actively on the love and the power of Jesus Christ to declare war on that fire inside; to keep that fire small, to extinguish it quickly before we allow it to do any more damage.

You can read about the Grand Canyon. You can see pictures of the Grand Canyon. But you can't begin to comprehend how grand a canyon it is until you're standing right there at the edge of it, trying to drink in how massive it really is. The moods, the colors, the vastness—it was really something impressive for our whole family the first time we went there together. You stand on the South Rim and you look at the North Rim in the distance…the far distance, realizing you can only look. It averages at least ten miles across! There's no way to get across that canyon. There’s no bridge that will take you to the other side.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Eternity Gap."

You stand looking at something you'd like to experience, but there's no bridge to get you there—just a very grand canyon between you and what you're looking at. It's a feeling all of us are much too familiar with; looking at where we are, then looking at the kind of person we need to be and realizing there's a grand canyon in between.

Sometimes it's getting married, or having children, or going through one of life's deep valleys that makes us see our dark side; that makes us realize the great gap between the person I am and the person I want to be, the person I need to be, the person the people around me need for me to be. We don't want to be selfish, but selfishness seems so natural and so hard to change. We don't want to be enslaved by this habit, or hurting people with our angry words, or by constantly succumbing to negativity, even depression. We see our worst come out, and it's often hurting most the people we love the most. We want to be different, but listen, it's a long way to the other side. I know what I want to be, what people who count on me need for me to be, but my dark side wins too often.

This is not a new struggle. One of the writers of the Bible actually talked about it in Romans 7, where we find our word for today from the Word of God. He says, "I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do, I do not do, but what I hate, I do." That sounds all too familiar, doesn't it? "I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.” He says, “For what I do is the evil I do not want to do...who will rescue me?" This man has stumbled on the way that we can bridge the gap between the person we are and the person we need to be—a rescuer. He’s crying out for a rescuer. He answers the question "who will rescue me?" this way: "Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!"

All our efforts to improve ourselves seem to fall short. And according to Romans 3:23 in the Bible, our best falls way short of getting to a perfect God. We have only one hope of crossing the grand canyon that we've never been able to cross, and that is literally being carried across in the arms of Jesus Christ. He can rescue you from your dark side because He died to pay the death penalty for all your sins, and then He rose from the dead to prove that He has beaten everything that has beaten us.

The arms of Heaven’s Rescuer are, in fact, open to you this very day. But He won’t grab you. No, you have to grab Him. Has there ever been a moment when you’ve come to the end of yourself and placed all your hopes and all your trust in Jesus Christ and in Him alone? If not, this would be a great day for you to finally take that first step of faith and to tell Him, “Jesus, I am Yours. I'm putting all my faith in You to have my sins forgiven and to go to heaven someday, to have a relationship with my God."

This could be the beginning of a new story for you. In fact, that's the name of our website - ANewStory.com. And I want to urge you to go there today, and I think you will find there some things from God's Word that will help you be sure you belong to Jesus Christ.

He stands ready to do for you what you have never been able to do for yourself if you’ll just walk into His waiting arms.