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!"

I was traveling to South Africa, and I had this 18-hour flight layover in Rome, and I wanted to see as much of it as I could. A friend of mine picked me up at the airport and we began this whirlwind day by taking me to the Coliseum. As we left, we were surrounded by five or six gypsy children who started talking all at once. My friend actually told me to hang onto my stuff, which I desperately tried to do. I had my wallet in my front pants pocket as a precaution, my passport in my sport jacket, a camera bag, and an umbrella because it was raining. Those kids were good at what they did. They did everything to distract us as they tried to grab something of value. Well, my friend fended them off using his umbrella like a sword, and then we breathed a sigh of relief as we checked to see if we had everything. We had just rounded a corner when I saw this little gypsy girl - maybe five years old or so - running over the hill toward us. She was waving something blue in her hand. It was my passport. Unbeknownst to me, the kids had gotten my passport, and unbeknownst to them, this little girl had brought it back to me. It was a little miracle actually, and it was a good thing. I wasn’t about to get into South Africa without my passport!

I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about “Your Passport for Heaven.”

There’s no telling what would have happened without that little girl. There was no way I could go where I wanted to go unless I had my passport. It’s the only way of getting into any country in the world. It’s the same about getting into heaven when you die. You've got to have your passport!

Jesus spelled that out in very explicit terms in our word for today from the Word of God in John 3:1-3. In light of what He says about who will be in heaven, it’s surprising how many think they will be and apparently are wrong. The Bible says, “There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council. He came to Jesus at night and said, ‘Rabbi, we know You are a teacher who has come from God’ ... In reply Jesus declared, ‘I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born again.” That’s the required passport to get into heaven - being born again.

Well, what is this? Whatever it is, you have no chance of heaven without it. It’s the experience that makes it possible for a sinner like you and me to be born into God’s family so we can be with Him forever. Now, at what point are you “born again”? Listen to God’s Word a couple of chapters earlier: speaking of Jesus it says, “To all who received Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:12). The only way to be born into God’s family - to be born again - is to open your heart to Jesus, to tell Him you’re done running your life, that you’re putting your total trust in Him and His death for your sins on the cross.

The man Jesus said this to was deeply religious, very successful, and he was highly respected. But apparently none of that will get you into heaven. The most religious people still have sin that will keep them out of heaven until they’ve been to Jesus to get it forgiven. And if you don’t know you’ve done that, I'm guessing you haven’t. And you can’t possibly get into heaven when you die. The Bible says, “No one can enter unless he is born again.”

But Jesus is coming to you right now and He’s got your eternal passport in His hand. Don’t you want to reach out and take it? You want to belong to Him? Listen, tell Him, "Jesus, I'm yours. Only what You did on the cross for me can pay for my sin and remove it from God's book forever. Jesus, you paid for my life. I give it to You today."

And let me encourage you to check out our website. There’s where you’ll get biblical information on how to be sure you belong to Jesus. Here’s the address: ANewStory.com.

Today could be like your birthday - your second birthday. This is the one that gets you into God’s family and gets you into heaven. This could be the day that you could be born again.

Chimney Mountain! I wanted our family to conquer it together. So, my wife and I, and our then three little Hutchcrafts started hiking up the trail. And my wife was a lovely tour guide as we went up that mountain trail. She pointed out for example, “Oh, look at the chipmunks over there! Hey, there goes a squirrel! Oh, look at those roots, they’re huge! Notice how they tangled around the tree. Wait, wait, stop, listen; can you hear the wind whispering to us in the pines?” We were having a great time together.

We were about half-way up the mountain and my wife said, “Oh, this has really been nice. Well, let’s go back.” I said, “What? Let’s go back? What is the purpose for getting on a mountain trail in the first place? The reason you climb a mountain is to get to the top of the mountain. We’ve got to conquer it! We have to achieve!” But my wife was saying, “Well, we’ve had a nice experience together. Isn’t that what was important?” Sounds kind of like a guy and a woman perspective, doesn’t it? Get to the top or get with each other? You have to decide what’s important on your mountain too.

I’m Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “Your Goal or Your People?”

Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Ecclesiastes 4. Solomon says this in verse 4, “And I saw that all labor and all achievements spring from man’s envy for his neighbor.” He called it kind of a great chase! “This, too," he said, "is meaningless...” That’s his verdict on a lifetime of work. Listen to this: "a chasing after the wind.” Then he says, “Better one handful with tranquility than two hands full with toil and chasing after the wind.”

Now, this sounds like an indictment really of a lifestyle that’s considered normal by most of us. Work harder and harder to get more and more. The tendency is to live as if my worth is my work. I am what I do. Then one day people retire and they don’t know who they are because they don’t have their job any more.

One day after I spoke at a church, a well-dressed woman came up to me, probably in her 30s, she started to cry and she shook her head and she said, “I can’t believe I fell for it.”

I said, “What do you mean?” She said, “All these years we‘ve watched the price that our husbands paid to chase success: stress, heart attacks, pressure, broken relationships.” And she said, “I decided I would go after that too.” And she said, “Do you know what I have to show for it? Pressure at work and failure at home.”

Men have fallen for the lie that your worth is your work for a long time – getting up that mountain. And you know what? Now women are falling for it too. Now they’re getting the ulcers; they’re getting the heart attacks, and both are leaving a trail of neglected relationships as they push up the trail. There was a song some years ago that said, “Daddy, don’t you walk so fast. Won’t you slow down some, because you’re making me run? Daddy, don’t you walk so fast.”

People around us may be crying, “Slow down! I need time with you!” But we’re ruled by our work. God says, “People are more important than work or achievement.” Only you can be Mom or Dad to your kids. You’re the only husband or wife, brother or sister that they have. Are you busy chugging up Mount Work, Mount Accomplishment, Mount Goal? Are you so busy that the people you love are only getting your leftovers?

Being is more important than doing. Who you’re on the mountain with is more important than getting to the top.

I think in a way, life is kind of like 365 deaths and resurrections every year. You know, you go to bed at night. It’s kind of like you die, and then you come back to life the next morning. Now I know some mornings those resurrections look a little doubtful, like they may not happen. There’s the sound of a buzzer, or a bell, or a radio going on, and then no signs of life. But eventually, sooner or later, there are signs of stirring and the dead person returns to life - another new start in a lifetime full of new starts. Whether or not you find those early moments of your day a little tough, I think I’ve got something that just might help you get out of the gate each morning.

I’m Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “God-Shaped Days.”

Our word for today from the Word of God is found in Ephesians 2:10. I think this is I guess I’d call it a cosmically exciting verse. Listen to this: “For we are God’s workmanship.” Well, that’s pretty good, but he’s not done yet. “…created in Christ Jesus…” Okay, it’s getting better. “…to do good works.” All right. “…which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Now, think about this. The Word of God is saying that you are uniquely crafted by God. You’re His workmanship. All the experiences, the education, the people, even the hurts of your life (maybe especially the hurts of your life) have shaped you for some special assignments from God. He’s given you gifts that will enable you to go and make a difference in your world. You have “make a difference” equipment that God has literally built into you.

And now this verse tells us that there are, throughout your life, assignments specially prepared for you to do. I can’t do them; they were prepared for you. Now, he doesn’t say great works. He says good works. We’re sometimes waiting around for some giant thing to do. “I want something big to do for God.” He says, “I just want you to do a lot of little good works.”

See, God is daily bringing into your life people that He’s planned for you to touch; to help with what you know; to help with what you can do. He’s daily setting you up for a cup of cold water that you were destined to give in His name to someone. Or a compliment, or a word of encouragement that you were destined to give, an insight that maybe will lift someone’s load or change their life. A pre-destined contact with someone who needs what you uniquely can give them.

So when you’re starting a new day and resurrecting from the night before, you don’t have to say, “Oh, here we go again! Seen one day, seen them all.” Uh-uh! No way! You can wake up and say, “This is the day the Lord has made.” Not, “This is the day the boss has made, or the weather has made, or that my husband or wife has made, or my kids have made, or my To Do List has made. No, “This is the day the Lord has made. I will rejoice and be glad in it!”

Right now God is maneuvering your life and someone else’s so that they will intersect at just the right time; so they will come together for His glory today. But you can miss it. You have to look for it. You have to expect it each new day, because God promised “good works that were prepared in advance for you to do.”

Today you will discover the good works He’s prepared in advance for you to do. That should help you resurrect each morning. That daily destiny? That’s something worth getting up for.