gains – Jerry Lout ⚬ Writer ⚬ Speaker ⚬ Mobilizer

March 26, 2026

Wings Of Assurance

The “training wheels” metaphor often serves well in life. No one gains much headway in growth skills apart from the element of training.

Equipping. Tutoring. Apprenticing. All are treasured words in the training enterprise.

Without guidance and up-close assistance in our learning process start accumulating a nasty assortment of bumps and scratches and bruises. Like many-a-kid who excitedly took up bike-riding for the first time. Plunging in with an eager self-confidence – but all alone. Left to ourselves, things seldom end well.

When a believer sets out to grow in their earnest hope of taking on the character and likeness of Jesus Christ, a simple adjustment in approach can make a telling difference. Assurance finds wings. Confidence in the Christ’s “with-ness” replaces feelings of being stranded without fuel or compass. And, God’s very engagement with us lessens the prospects of our getting ambushed by the fear of failure or of succumbing to the boredom of a purposeless existence.

In a pilgrimage that is shared among people marked by a growing love for one another, words like boredom and drudgery simply drop away. In their place come robust terms like adventurous. . . invigorating.

Receiving heaven’s grace that transports a Christ-follower more fully into “life in the kingdom”, means that something called partnering practices are summoned. Engaging the practices is anything but cumbersome.

“Whither Thou Goest” is a lyric my brother sang at my wedding. The years that followed saw my bride trekking with me from her Montana home, on then to Texas. After that, New York and Africa and places beyond. Our wedding vows held substance for Ann and me.

New (and routinely renewed) union in Christ bears similar features. Unrelenting love is marked by choice. It is orienting one’s life each day to keep walking in step with the beloved.

Growth in grace (God acting in our life), explains Dallas Willard, “is something we must plan for by regular engagement in activities that enable us to receive God’s grace in all areas (of our lives)”. Professor Willard’s statement brings clarity to what is fundamentally called for in the life of a Christian convert. And, all through the remainder of the disciple’s life.

In truth, a lifelong journey of deepening companionship with Jesus is the thing a disciple longs for. It is what they are fashioned to live into. Nothing less will sustain a person on the long path of flourishing to which we are called in the faith pilgrimage.

September 11, 2025September 9, 2025

Assured Gains

When twenty-seven-year-old Jim Elliott and his friends set out to reach a remote people group of the Amazon Basin, none of the missionaries envisioned the cost that lay before them.

It was a few months after my tenth birthday when Life Magazine broke the news story. The five young men had died at the hands of Waorani tribesmen as they tried making contact with them deep in the rain forest. The men’s hope had been to, over time, share the love of God and message of Christ among the Waorani. I still recall learning the heart-rending news of their deaths.

He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep, to gain what he cannot lose.

The spread of the statement that Jim Elliott had penned in his personal journal served to awaken missionary passions across a fresh generation of young men and women. A new wave of ‘Great Commission Jesus-followers’ to serve in cross-cultural mission work was born.

Jim Elliott’s “he is no fool” phrase came to challenge prevailing worldviews of many across the landscape of conventional Christianity. His statement leaving a question to ponder at a deeper level. . . What sort of things in life do matter most?

Indeed, what did Jim and his four friends (Nate, Pete, Ed, Roger) actually ‘gain’ in the yielding up of their hearts, talents, treasures, and very lives?

And, when the fellows in Jesus’ provocative parables opts without hesitation to let go of all they have in order to obtain the “gain”, just what is that gain?

The New Testament pharisee-turned-apostle sings, The treasure is Jesus! With an ever-growing nearness and loving obedience to him.

“For me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”*

February 1, 2024January 31, 2024

Constant Gains

We know of people who opt to change their proper name. Visiting the United Kingdom, I am sometimes tempted to tweak my surname. Hardly any of our British friends would think it a compliment being called a lout.

A few days after tackling my new duties on campus, I met a delightful student from East Asia.

“Hi, my name is ‘Constant’”, he smiled.

“Happy to meet you, Constant. I’m Jerry”. The introduction marked the start of a rich friendship. A couple days passed. My phone rang.

“Hi Jerry, it’s Constant. Do you have a minute?”

In time I learned the rationale behind my new acquaintance’s name change. Realizing his given name might prove tough for some Oklahomans to pronounce and wishing to take on a name reflecting his ambitions as a student, he simply landed on Constant. Staying focused and constant – not getting distracted or sidelined from studies. Things he knew were called for in his engineering pursuits. Makes sense! I thought.

“Sure”, I responded to his request over the phone, “what’s up, Constant?”

After a short visit, which included suggesting a few tips to ease his concerns over navigating English with a certain professor, I offered that Constant and I begin weekly meetups for conversational practice. He liked the idea.

I suggested two o’clock the following day.

“Yes, that time is great. At my apartment!”

Carrying forward with the Tuesday sessions over the next three years, our friendship grew. It was gratifying, making my way week-by-week to Constant’s apartment, seeing his second-language skills excel month after month. The English reading exercises we tackled featured an uncommon (for him) curriculum resource. Opening the New Testament week by week, we took in a narrative, then another – Tuesday after Tuesday – from the life of Jesus.