J. Todd Vinson is the Founder and Executive Director of Willow Springs Boys' Ranch and
Jacob's Ladder Camps and Retreats in Chandler, OK.
Willow Springs Boys' Ranch provides a long-term home for boys who are displaced or whose families are in crisis. WSBR serves boys from across Oklahoma and the United States.
Jacob's Ladder Camps and Retreats strives to strengthen inter-personal relationships, develop character, leadership, and introduce the importance of a relationship with Jesus Christ.
Jacob's Ladder facilitates groups for high school and college athletics, youth groups, service groups, prepares mission teams, couples and families retreats, rites of passage retreats, and corporate retreats.
Jacob's Ladders function is to help fund the mission of Willow Springs Boys Ranch.
Todd holds a B.A in Psychology and a Masters in Human Relations from the University of Oklahoma. Todd is a former Young Life staffer in Norman, OK. He also is a former Kanakuk Kamp counselor. Both of these organizations have had a profound influence on his life as he works with youth and families.
Todd and his wife, Jeannie, have been married for fourteen years and have four girls: Mattie, Ellie, Avery and Murphy. They are active members of Henderson Hills Baptist Church in Edmond, OK.
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The first response to any crisis is prayer; urgent and honest prayer. Before we turn to money managers and governments, let's turn to the Maker of the Universe. ~Max Lucado
You Have Our Attention, Lord
A prayer by Max Lucado - October 2008
Our friends lost their house
The co-worker lost her job
The couple next door lost their retirement
It seems that everyone is losing their footing
This scares us. This bailout with billions.
These rumblings of depression.
These headlines: ominous, thunderous -
"Going Broke!" "Going Down!" "Going Under!" "What's Next?"
What is next?
We're listening. And we're admitting: You were right.
You told us this would happen.
You shot straight about loving stuff and worshipping money.
Greed will break your heart, You warned.
Money will love you and leave you.
Don't put your hope in riches that are so uncertain.
You were right. Money is a fickle lover and we just got dumped.
We were wrong to spend what we didn't have.
Wrong to neglect prayer and ignore the poor.
Wrong to think we ever earned a dime. We didn't. You gave it. And now, tell us Father, are You taking it?
We're listening. And we're praying.
Could you make something good out of this mess?
Of course You can. You always have.
You led slaves out of slavery,
Built temples out of ruins,
Turned stormy waves into a glassy pond and water into sweet wine.
This disorder awaits your order. So do we.
Through Christ,
Amen
For He hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin;
that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.
2 Corinthians 5:21
Sin is a fundamental relationship; it is not wrong doing, it is wrong
being, deliberate and emphatic independence of God. The Christian
religion bases everything on the positive, radical nature of sin.
Other religions deal with sins; the Bible alone deals with sin. The
first thing Jesus Christ faced in men was the heredity of sin, and it
is because we have ignored this in our presentation of the Gospel
that the message of the Gospel has lost its sting and its blasting
power.
The revelation of the Bible is not that Jesus Christ took upon
Himself our fleshly sins, but that He took upon Himself the heredity
of sin which no man can touch. God made His own Son to be sin that He
might make the sinner a saint. All through the Bible it is revealed
that Our Lord bore the sin of the world by identification, not by
sympathy. He deliberately took upon His own shoulders, and bore in
His own Person, the whole massed sin of the human race - "He hath
made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin," and by so doing He put
the whole human race on the basis of Redemption. Jesus Christ
rehabilitated the human race; He put it back to where God designed it
to be, and anyone can enter into union with God on the ground of what
Our Lord has done on the Cross.
A man cannot redeem himself; Redemption is God's "bit," it is
absolutely finished and complete; its reference to individual men is
a question of their individual action. A distinction must always be
made between the revelation of Redemption and the conscious
experience of salvation in a man's life.
Daily Reading of My Upmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers
The reading from Oswald Chamber today was a good reminder as he talks about spiritual muddle. Another way to put it is to remain focused. Not only is it important to be focused, we must be mindful of what we are focused on.
The simplicity that is in Christ. II Corinthians 11:3
Simplicity is the secret of seeing things clearly. A saint does not
think clearly for a long while, but a saint ought to see clearly
without any difficulty. You cannot think a spiritual muddle clear,
you have to obey it clear. In intellectual matters you can think
things out, but in spiritual matters you will think yourself into
cotton wool. If there is something upon which God has put His
pressure, obey in that matter, bring your imagination into captivity
to the obedience of Christ with regard to it and everything will
become as clear as daylight. The reasoning capacity comes afterwards,
but we never see along that line, we see like children; when we try
to be wise we see nothing (Matthew 11:25).
The tiniest thing we allow in our lives that is not under the control
of the Holy Spirit is quite sufficient to account for spiritual
muddle, and all the thinking we like to spend on it will never make
it clear. Spiritual muddle is only made plain by obedience.
Immediately we obey, we discern. This is humiliating, because when we
are muddled we know the reason is in the temper of our mind. When the
natural power of vision is devoted to the Holy Spirit, it becomes the
power of perceiving God's will and the whole life is kept in
simplicity.
Daily Reading from My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers
Help me, O God,
To live the recipe
before I give the recipe.
Give me the kneading strength
to work the words into the doughy recesses of my life.
Help me to leave it alone for a while
so it can rise,
Help me not to fear the oven
so it can bake.
And grant that in the baking,
the world would be able to roll down its window
and savor the aroma of freshly baked bread....
~Excerpt from Windows of the Soul by Ken Gire
"Someone once said that you are a success if, at the end of your life, the people who knew you the best are the ones who respect you the most," ~Windows of the Soul by Ken Gire
When things in your life seem almost too much to
handle, when 24 hours in a day are not enough,
remember the mayonnaise jar and the 2 cups of coffee.
A professor stood before his philosophy class and
had some items in front of him. When the class
began, he wordlessly picked up a very large and
empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with
golf balls. He then asked the students if the jar
was full. They agreed that it was.
Continue reading "Mayo Jar and Two Cups of Coffee" »
The naturalist John Muir once announced that he was wealthier than the railroad tycoon E. J. Harriman, who at the time was one of the richest men in the world. "I have as much money as I want, " Muir explained, "and he doesn't." That comment gets at the heart of what it means to experience peace and happiness. To be content with what you have is the beginning of a happy life.
Excerpt from WHAT REALLY COUNTS FOR MEN
Martyn Lloyd-Jones writes, It is the highest activity of the human soul, and therefore it is at the same time the ultimate test of a man's true spiritual condition. There is nothing that tells the truth about us as Christian people so much as our prayer life. . . . Ultimately, therefore, a man discovers the real condition of his spiritual life when he examines himself in private, when he is alone with God. . . . And have we not all known what it is to find that, somehow, we have less to say to God when we are alone than when we are in the presence of others? It should not be so; but it often is. So that it is when we have left the realm of activities and outward dealings with other people, and are alone with God, that we really know where we stand in a spiritual sense.
(Studies in the Sermon on the Mount, 2 vols. [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1979], 2:45).
MacArthur, J. (1995). Alone with God. Includes indexes. Wheaton, Ill.: Victor Books.
Mr. Spurgeon says: “Of course the preacher is above all others distinguished as a man of prayer. He prays as an ordinary Christian, else he were a hypocrite. He prays more than ordinary Christians, else he were disqualified for the office he has undertaken. If you as ministers are not very prayerful, you are to be pitied. If you become lax in sacred devotion, not only will you need to be pitied but your people also, and the day cometh in which you shall be ashamed and confounded. All our libraries and studies are mere emptiness compared with our closets. Our seasons of fasting and prayer at the Tabernacle have been high days indeed; never has heaven's gate stood wider; never have our hearts been nearer the central Glory."
The praying which makes a prayerful ministry is not a little praying put in as we put flavor to give it a pleasant snack, but the praying must be in the body, and form the blood and bones. Prayer is no petty duty, put into a corner; no piecemeal performance made out of the fragments of time which have been snatched from business and other engagements of life; but it means that the best of our time, the heart of our time and strength must be given. It does not mean the closet absorbed in the study or swallowed up in the activities of ministerial duties; but it means the closet first, the study and activities second, both study and activities freshened and made efficient by the closet. Prayer that affects one's ministry must give tone to one's life. The praying which gives color and bent to character is no pleasant, hurried pastime. It must enter as strongly into the heart and life as Christ's "strong crying and tears" did; must draw out the soul into an agony of desire as Paul's did; must be an inwrought fire and force like the “"effectual, fervent prayer" of James; must be of that quality which, when put into the golden censer and incensed before God, works mighty spiritual throes and revolutions.
Prayer is not a little habit pinned on to us while we were tied to our mother's apron strings; neither is it a little decent quarter of a minute's grace said over an hour's dinner, but it is a most serious work of our most serious years. It engages more of time and appetite than our longest dinings or richest feasts. The prayer that makes much of our preaching must be made much of. The character of our praying will determine the character of our preaching. Light praying will make light preaching. Prayer makes preaching strong, gives it unction, and makes it stick. In every ministry weighty for good, prayer has always been a serious business.
The preacher must be preeminently a man of prayer. His heart must graduate in the school of prayer. In the school of prayer only can the heart learn to preach. No learning can make up for the failure to pray. No earnestness, no diligence, no study, no gifts will supply its lack.
Talking to men for God is a great thing, but talking to God for men is greater still. He will never talk well and with real success to men for God who has not learned well how to talk to God for men. More than this, prayerless words in the pulpit and out of it are deadening words.
Bounds, E. M. (1999). Power through prayer. Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.
God does not need praise by men, but he knows apriori, that when men cease to praise him, they begin to praise one another excessively.
~Isaac Bashevis Singer
Muck, T. C. (1985). Vol. 2: Liberating the leader's prayer life. The Leadership library. Carol Stream, Ill.; Waco, Tex.: CTi; Word Books.
Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.
Matt. 6:33
We need have only one care, that we put the first thing first-faithfulness to God. Then all else we need for both worlds will be supplied. God will never fail us; but we forget, sometimes, in our rejoicing over such an assurance, that we must fulfill our part if we would claim the divine promise.
It will not always be easy. Tomorrow it may mean a distasteful task, a disagreeable duty, a costly sacrifice for one who does not seem worthy. Life is full of sore testings of our willingness to follow the Good Shepherd. We have not the slightest right to claim this assurance unless we have taken Christ as the guide of our life.
~J. R. Miller
Hardman, S. G., & Moody, D. L. (1998, c1997, c1994, c1990). Thoughts for the quiet hour. Originally published: Chicago: Revell, c1990. (May 17). Willow Grove, PA: Woodlawn Electronic Publishing.
I ought to pray before seeing any one. Often when I sleep long, or meet with others early, it is eleven or twelve o'clock before I begin secret prayer. This is a wretched system. It is unscriptural. Christ arose before day and went into a solitary place. David says: "Early will I seek thee. Thou shalt early hear my voice." Family prayer loses much of its power and sweetness, and I can do no good to those who come to seek from me. The conscience feels guilty, the soul unfed, the lamp not trimmed. Then when in secret prayer the soul is often out of tune, I feel it is far better to begin with God-to see his face first, to get my soul near him before it is near another.
~Robert Murray McCheyne
Bounds, E. M. (1999). Power through prayer. Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.
I was reading Oswald Chambers this morning. His devotion hit me square between the eyes! I am struggling with an area right now that I am trying to figure it out on my own, or work ing the decision out by my own abilities, That is not faith. That is Todd. To my detriment, I sometimes get Todd an God confused. Below is a good reminder from Chambers:
Let us go into Judea. His disciples say unto Him . . . Goest Thou thither again? John 11:7-8.
I may not understand what Jesus Christ says, but it is dangerous to say that therefore He was mistaken in what He said. It is never right to think that my obedience to a word of God will bring dishonour to Jesus. The only thing that will bring dishonour is not obeying Him. To put my view of His honour in place of what He is plainly impelling me to do is never right, although it may arise from a real desire to prevent Him being put to open shame. I know when the proposition comes from God because of its quiet persistence. When I have to weigh the pros and cons, and doubt and debate come in, I am bringing in an element that is not of God, and I come to the conclusion that the suggestion was not a right one. Many of us are loyal to our notions of Jesus Christ, but how many of us are loyal to Him? Loyalty to Jesus means I have to step out where I do not see anything (cf. Matt. 14:29); loyalty to my notions means that I clear the ground first by my intelligence. Faith is not intelligent understanding, faith is deliberate commitment to a Person where I see no way.
Are you debating whether to take a step in faith in Jesus or to wait until you can see how to do the thing yourself? Obey Him with glad reckless joy. When He says something and you begin to debate, it is because you have a conception of His honour which is not His honour. Are you loyal to Jesus or loyal to your notion of Him? Are you loyal to what He says, or are you trying to compromise with conceptions which never came from Him? "Whatsoever He saith unto you, do it."
Chambers, O. (1993, c1935). My utmost for his highest : Selections for the year (March 28). Grand Rapids, MI: Discovery House Publishers.
He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing
John 15:5
Too much taken up with our work, we may forget our Master; it is possible to have the hand full, and the heart empty. Taken up with our Master we cannot forget our work; if the heart is filled with His love, how can the hands not be active in His service?
~Adolphe Monod
Continue reading "What Are You Taken Up With?" »
I ought to pray before seeing any one. Often when I sleep long, or meet with others early, it is eleven or twelve o’clock before I begin secret prayer. This is a wretched system. It is unscriptural. Christ arose before day and went into a solitary place. David says: “Early will I seek thee”; “Thou shalt early hear my voice.” Family prayer loses much of its power and sweetness, and I can do no good to those who come to seek from me. The conscience feels guilty, the soul unfed, the lamp not trimmed. Then when in secret prayer the soul is often out of tune, I feel it is far better to begin with God — to see his face first, to get my soul near him before it is near another.
~ Robert Murray McCheyne
Bounds, E. M. (1999). Power through prayer. Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.
The principal cause of my leanness and unfruitfulness is owing to an unaccountable backwardness to pray. I can write or read or converse or hear with a ready heart; but prayer is more spiritual and inward than any of these, and the more spiritual any duty is the more my carnal heart is apt to start from it. Prayer and patience and faith are never disappointed. I have long since learned that if ever I was to be a minister faith and prayer must make me one. When I can find my heart in frame and liberty for prayer, everything else is comparatively easy.
~Richard Newton
Continue reading "Leanness and Unfruitfulness along with a little Vision and Darkness...Want Some?" »
"Naturally, we are inclined to be so mathematical and calculating that we look upon uncertainty as a bad thing...Certainty is the mark of the common-sense life; gracious uncertainty is the mark of the spiritual life. To be certain with God means that we are uncertain in all our ways, we do not know what a day may bring forth. This is generally said with a sigh of sadness; it should rather be an expression of breathless expectation."
~Oswald Chambers (My Utmost for His Highest)
You know the value of prayer: it is precious beyond all price. Never, never neglect it .
~Sir Thomas Buxton
Prayer is the first thing, the second thing, the third thing necessary to a minister. Pray, then, my dear brother: pray, pray, pray.
~ Edward Payson
Bounds, E. M. (1999). Power through prayer. Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.
But above all he excelled in prayer. The inwardness and weight of his spirit, the reverence and solemnity of his address and behavior, and the fewness and fullness of his words have often struck even strangers with admiration as they used to reach others with consolation. The most awful, living, reverend frame I ever felt or beheld, I must say, was his prayer. And truly it was a testimony. He knew and lived nearer to the Lord than other men, for they that know him most will see most reason to approach him with reverence and fear.
~William Penn of George Fox
Bounds, E. M. (1999). Power through prayer. Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.
"Study universal holiness of life. Your whole usefulness depends on this, for your sermons last but an hour or two; your life preaches all the week. If Satan can only make a covetous minister a lover of praise, of pleasure, of good eating, he has ruined your ministry. Give yourself to prayer, and get your texts, your thoughts, your words from God. Luther spent his best three hours in prayer."
~Robert Murray McCheyne
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