Be Careful of What You Build

   What is my prayer this morning? What thoughts enter my mind as I wake up, even before I read any of the Scriptures or try to pray? It is hard to get up with a clean slate, or a clear and open mind. So many things are already out there, even in the few minutes between waking and getting to this point. Even though it is only a short time, my dreams of the night before, or my plans of the coming day already want my attention. Events, words or actions of the previous day come flowing back and try to crowd out the sense of why I sit here to study and write.

   It is hard for me to concentrate with all of this going on in my mind. I want the Spirit of God to guide me in my thoughts, and maybe this is a part of that, but I often feel disappointed with myself when I realize my faults and short comings. I want to live in a way that others might see that I have been with Jesus.

  Then I look back at what I have written and it looks like Jesus is not the important part of this equation, it is me. I want to live, and I want others to see. Is not the object of any Christian life that others see Jesus not me?

   Even as I read the short Scripture passage this morning this came out:

   "When they heard it, they marveled."

   Wanting others around me to recognize that I am in touch with the God of the Universe, and that I can speak His wisdom, so that people might marvel, is a very slippery slope. Does the spotlight fall on God or me?

   Perhaps that is why God brings my past up to me in these moments, so that I can see myself as He does, and from that experience, to grow.

   After all.....

   The pedestal that I build for myself is pretty short, but it is plenty tall enough to get hurt falling off of.

  

Showing the Proper Respect

   There are a lot of people mentioned in today's reading from Matthew 22.

   First there are the invited guests:

   "He sent out servants to call in all the invited guests. And they wouldn't come!"

   They had a personal invitation to the banquet.

   Then there were those who were in the right place at the right time:

   "The servants went out on the streets and rounded up everyone they laid eyes on, good and bad," 

   They got the chance to feast also.

   Then there were those who came:

   "And so the banquet was on—every place filled."

   Then there was one who came but who did not respect the occasion or the one who made the feast available:

   "When the king entered and looked over the scene, he spotted a man who wasn't properly dressed."

   Where do I fit into this whole story?

   When God issues an invitation to serve, to care, or just to sit and listen, do I disrespect that offer by my indifference or selfishness? Am I too busy to make the effort, or just don't care about the feast or the one who sets it?

   If I do decide to come, do I show the proper respect for the occasion, or the feast preparer, by at least showing up with the proper motives, leaving the selfish part behind?

   In short, do I show up because I want to honor those others who are in that part of the story, or do I sit and eat because I see it as an opportunity for personal gain?

   It is not enough to show up, although that is the first important part, I need to get myself out of the way.

   Even if I show up to read, study, meditate and pray in the beginning of each day, when I treat the time as just a prelude to writing a blog, forgetting what I have written as I live that day, I show no respect for what God has revealed. It is just so many words.

   God, help me to respect the invitation and respect what You show to me, by living it out today.

Somebody Knows My Name

   When I graduated from The University of Tennessee, way back in 1958, I took a job with the university in their accounting department. My title was Asst. Auditor, and my job was to do whatever the Treasurer or the Head Auditor told me, The President of UT at that time was C.E. Brehm, who served in that office from 1946-1959. About the only time I saw Dr. Brehm was when he got out of his car to go to his office, which was on the 2nd floor of our building.

   After he retired, Dr. Andy Holt, who had been one of the University vice presidents, became the President and the aura around the office of president changed. Dr. Holt walked all over that campus, speaking to students, faculty and visitors alike. He never failed to speak to staff as they passed in the hall. The stories were passed around the school of how he would stop students on their way to the top of the Hill, to Ayers Hall, and give them a ride to the top in his car. He was a people person for sure.

   My office was in the Administration Building up on the Hill, well, really, I only had a desk in a big office, but the President's office was on the floor above. One day as I walked across the Hill for something, a voice called out from the other side of the small quad that separated the buildings, "Hey Don", and you can imagine my surprise when I realized who it was. The President actually knew who I was, and called me by name, not in a small whisper, but in a loud shout that everyone up on the Hill that day could hear. But that was the way this man operated, speaking to and with, everyone from the janitor in the building to the head football coach, without distinction.

   That memory sticks with me, partly because I was flattered by his recognition, but more  because I saw something there that I would like to emulate. The man cared about people, all his people, at least as far as I saw, and he was not afraid to show that in public.

   True humility and true caring are two traits that cannot be faked very well, and they are two that I would like to characterize my life. By treating men and women that I meet in a genuine way, acknowledging that they are persons of worth, whether it be in church, in prison or in a store, is the way that God would like me to behave.

   After all, He was not ashamed when He called my name either.

  

My Plans or His?

   Today is the day of the Gathering Place fund raising golf tournament. I have looked forward to this for a while since it is to be played on the Ocean Forest course over on Sea Island. Now this course is very private, and the only way to get on is to be invited by a member. So this is my chance to see it and play it, and to test my game on it.

   But there is a problem. It started raining last night, rained all night and is still coming down this morning. The forecast is for still more rain throughout the day, so it does not look good for golf. A tropical storm came up in the Gulf of Mexico a couple of days ago and has moved east so that the northern part of Florida and south Georgia are getting the rain. Looking at the weather radar map, the whole of the United States looks good except for right down here where we are.

   As I sit here this morning, listening to the rain outside and reading the Scripture for today, the word that catches my attention is "Prayer", as in this verse in Matthew 21:

   "Absolutely everything, ranging from small to large, as you make it a part of your believing prayer, gets included as you lay hold of God."

   After kicking this around in my mind, realizing that praying is something that I do, but also something that eludes my understanding quite a bit of the time, I think maybe God is telling me to spend the free time today, since I don't have to spend hours at that course, in seeking Him in prayer.

   One of my favorite lines on prayer, from a quasi secular book series, Jan Karon's Mitford series, is the one by Father Tim when he says that he will pray the prayer that never fails, which is: "Thy will be done".

   If it is God's will that I not play today, perhaps another activity might be much more beneficial to me.

   Thy will be done.

The Uniqueness of a Sunday

   There was a woman in the reading for today,  from Luke 13, a woman who had a problem but continued to come to the place of meeting on the Sabbath. Luke records the incident:

   "^10-13He was teaching in one of the meeting places on the Sabbath. There was a woman present, so twisted and bent over with arthritis that she couldn't even look up. She had been afflicted with this for eighteen years. When Jesus saw her, he called her over. "Woman, you're free!" He laid hands on her and suddenly she was standing straight and tall, giving glory to God". (The Message)

   Was this woman coming to be healed? Did she even know that Jesus would be there that day? Was it just her custom to come on the Sabbath, regardless?

   Of course we cannot look into her mind, but I suspect that she expected this particular Sabbath to be like the ones before, the ones she had been coming to for the past 18 years since the arthritis had left her somewhat deformed and probably in pain. Would this day be any different?

   The story seems to emphasize the healing of the woman and the religious leaders reaction to it, but my thought was the uniqueness of that particular Sabbath, for everyone concerned.

   Then I thought of my attitude as I go to church on each Sunday morning. Do I go in expectation of something unique, or do I suspect it will be the same each and every time. I have jobs to perform, the  order of the service is somewhat predictable, the people are familiar for the most part, we sit in the same place in the sanctuary, and we will be through around 12:15. Do I give God a chance to break into my routine and bless me, or even challenge me?

   The woman in the story was faithful to be there in the meeting place on the appointed day. She was in that spot where God could step into her life in a big way, and she would never be the same again. From then on, that meeting place would become a miracle spot for her. I know it is hard to put to many things in the mind of that woman, one that I do not know anything about, but she encountered Jesus in a mighty way.

   Perhaps I should take a closer look at Sunday mornings and my attitudes on those days.


  

The Question

   There is a question in the reading today. True, it is a question that comes out of a particular story from Matthew 20, but it is a question that all have to answer when we encounter Jesus. The passage reads from The Message:

   "As they were leaving Jericho, a huge crowd followed. Suddenly they came upon two blind men sitting alongside the road. When they heard it was Jesus passing, they cried out, "Master, have mercy on us! Mercy, Son of David!" The crowd tried to hush them up, but they got all the louder, crying, "Master, have mercy on us! Mercy, Son of David!"

 ³²Jesus stopped and called over, "What do you want from me?"

 ³³They said, "Master, we want our eyes opened. We want to see!"

 ³⁴Deeply moved, Jesus touched their eyes"

   Jesus asks this morning, "What do you want Me to do? What is the need here for you? Out of all the things that you can ask Me for, what is the most important, right now, today, at this moment in time, when we are speaking to each other, when we recognize each other?"

   When I strip away all the things that can call for the attention of my life, all the needs of others, all the situations that call for my help and notice, all my concerns, what do I answer Jesus?

   "To know You and the power of Your salvation"

   My eyes also need to be opened, I want to see, and I want to feel that divine touch. I want to be so blatantly honest that Jesus is deeply moved.

   Let it be so, even now, Lord Jesus, let it be so..

Fore!

   I got up this morning with not much time to read and write. It is Friday, and that is my regular golf day with three of my friends. So I spent about 20 minutes reading the Scriptures and thinking about what they said, then I had to eat breakfast and leave.

   After coming home from the round, and catching up on what had gone on here in my absence, I sat  down to try and get back in touch with what God might have for me in all of this. But it is hard for me to change gears just like that. I want to replay each shot, good or bad, from the round and see where I might have saved a few strokes or done something to make my score more respectable.

   Here are some thoughts relating both golf and life:

   Things I could have done better:
      1. Keep my eyes on the ball when hitting.
      2. Don't try to kill the ball.
      3. Make sure to line up in the way I want the ball to go.

   How this relates to life in general and the Christian life in particular:
      1. The big problem with taking the eyes off the ball while swinging is trying to see where the ball is going to go. When I pick my head up to watch, even before striking the ball, good things do not happen. In life, looking out to the future without paying proper attention to the present, leads to missed opportunities and missed communication from God.
      2. Trying to use all my strength to hit the ball does not work well for me. The use of a proper controlled swing is a better recipe for success. Swinging for the fences may produce a good shot sometimes, but more than likely it will land me in a spot that is hard to escape from.
      3. It is hard to hit the ball where you want to go, if you don't align the body so that the shot actually goes there. Even a smooth swing and a well struck ball will not fly toward the target if I did not line up to hit it there.

   What do I need to do the correctly relate the golf game to the Christian life?
      1. Keep my eyes on Jesus and go where He leads, not so much concentrating on the future but living in the present.
      2. Using the strength of God to get the job done and not relying on my own.
      3. Keep my goals and plans in line with His.

   There is a message for me in everything, even golf.

Preparation & Serendipity

   Two readings, one thought:

   From Matthew 20:

   “You will drink my cup, but to sit at my right hand and at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father.” (ESV)

   From Psalm 105:

   "he had sent a man ahead of them,
Joseph, who was sold as a slave." (ESV)

   It seems as though God has prepared for things in the future, and His plans will not be thwarted. The Pharoah in Egypt did not even know God, but God was at work in his land, through the hand of Joseph. It was a round about trip, but lives were saved and a nation built through the series of events surrounding the famine in Egypt. God knew the future and prepared the way.

   In the narrative from Matthew, Jesus reminds his disciples, especially James and John, that things have been prepared in God's will, and these plans cannot be upset by anyone.

   I tend to rock along in my life without much deep thought about the future. It is often a case of "whatever will be, will be", and I don't dwell on it.

   But God has a prepared way for me, a way that He knows, and a way that He wants me to follow and be a part of. It is impossible for me to fathom His mind, since He knows what He wants me to do, and He knows what I will do, and He knows what He will do in that case also.

   So what is my responsibility in all of this? Do I just wait on the sidelines and see what happens or do I actively look for what I am supposed to do?

   There is a line by one of my favorite authors, Alexander Mccall Smith, in his little book, The Perils of Morning Coffee, which says "things done in error are best not left undone". This was his observation on the serendipity of mistakes, whereby one of his characters receives a invitation to coffee, generated by an obvious computer mistake, and decides that maybe nothing is ever done without some reason behind it. Then the whole plot proceeds from her response to that error.

   I often say that nothing happens in my life without a reason, and my responsibility is not to just treat it as fate, but to be alert for what God may be trying to tell me.

   It is easy for me to think on this when a Scripture brings it out, but to remember it as I live life each day, now that is hard.

The Secret Life

   At the end of the reading for today, I find this saying of Jesus again:

   Matthew 20:16  "So the last will be first, and the first last.” (ESV)

   I thought yesterday, after finishing up my thoughts and posting them, about the things that might make a first-place man in my eyes rate much lower on God's scale. It could be the things of his heart, those thoughts and actions, those motives and feelings, that define who he really is. In short, it is the secret things in his life that tell the complete story, the real story.

   There was another verse in the Psalm reading for today that seemed to go along with this idea, Psalm 101:3, which reads:

   "I will not set before my eyes
anything that is worthless."

   A lot of the time, the things that I put before my eyes, the books, the magazines, the Internet, the videos, show who I really am. What I do in secret is the real me.

   So the Psalmist says that he will not waste his time on stuff that does not matter, or even worse than that, those things that will lead him in the wrong direction. There is a lot of "worthless stuff" out there, a lot of it entertaining or fun, but worthless all the same.

   I think of one small example: I like to read books on my Kindle, and so I keep a small backlog of things that sound interesting to me. Over the past couple of months, Amazon has sent me an email with the "Kindle book of the day Deal", a deeply discounted book that I can buy, sometimes for less than one dollar. I bought a few that sounded good just for some light reading before bedtime, but after getting into them, found they were really trash. I could see no redeeming value in them, even though it was not for study, but just to get sleepy. I still look at what they offer each day, but my purchases are researched before I buy, and I only read what I think will benefit me. There is enough good stuff out there to last me for several lifetimes, so why waste my time on junk.

   I believe the same holds true for movies, videos, magazines as well as articles and images on the Internet. If I am to be judged by how I spend my time on earth, let me be wise in decisions concerning all that I do. The outward life as well as the secret one.

   After all, the bottom rung on the ladder is already filled to overflowing with "first-class wannabes"

Last to First and First to Last

   It happens in team sports. A team is riding high in first place in the standings and then all of a sudden the bottom drops out and they fall to last place before the season ends. Then there is the opposite scenario where the cellar dwellers rise through the ranks to reach the top spot.

   Not only in team sports but also in individual competitions, a player will be on top and then fall mightily, or go the other way from way down to the top. I think of John Peterson, who had no ranking on any of the professional golf tours and was ranked, I believe, 831st in the world, spending most of the last two days of the U.S. Open on the leaderboard, and ended up tied for 4th place.

   At the end of today's reading in Matthew 19:30 it reads:

   "But many who are first will be last, and the last first." (ESV)

   Either consciously or unconsciously, we tend to rank people into hierarchies according to the way we view their accomplishments and standing. We see leaders in government, education, society and even the church that we rate in this way. We may even try to rank ourselves in accordance to how we feel we stand relative to those folk.

   But God says: "My ways are not your ways."

   I believe that  when I die and go to Heaven, I will be surprised first of all by those whom God honors whose names are not known to anyone outside maybe their family and friends. Well-known Christian personalities will be looking up to these unknowns who have sought no fame, but have been faithful in their service for Him.

   Now this is not a treatise on Heaven, or rewards there, but it is a word spoken to me first of all, that faithfulness, where God shows the path, leads to an honored Christian life, maybe not here on earth, but later on. It is also a word on self-promotion or seeking the leadership roles for the wrong reasons. Even good things done in these latter situations can be burned up like hay and stubble.

   God judges the heart, and that can be a true but scary thing.

   The First, and those who think they deserve to be, will be last, and..

   The Last, and those who serve in Christian humility, will be first...

   Too often I have gotten it wrong.

  

  

Use the Light

   There was a verse in the Psalm reading this morning that caught my eye. From Psalm 89:15:

   "Blessed are the people who know the festal shout,
who walk, O Lord, in the light of your face,"
   I shortened it down to just, "Blessed are those that walk in the light of Your face". Then my mind turned to a theme from the Truth Project which talks about : "gazing on the face of God", and I wondered what all of this had to do with me this morning.

   Gazing on God's face implies that one has taken the time to look for God's mind and will in matters of his own life. The Bible says that when we draw near to God, He will draw near to us, and when we seek Him we will find Him. So, when He comes near (of course He is always near, we just don't realize or want to acknowledge it sometimes), and we gaze on His face, or see what He is all about, then we can walk on the path He has shown, using the Light He has provided.

   The question for me is why don't I always see that Light operating in my life? I sit down to read and study some mornings, and there seems to be nothing there for me, or I just don't see it. Why is the Light withheld at those times? Perhaps it is not withheld, but I simply do not comprehend it.

   Could God be saying to me, Look, I have given you light to walk by and you have not responded? More light will come when you do what you already know to do. Am I in effect saying "God, I see what Your light reveals, but maybe You could give me another Light that fits in more with my plans"?

   The question remains, do I really want to gaze upon the face of God and have my way illumined by His Light, or just say that I desire that? There comes a time when I have to quit asking and just do.

   Is it like the story of the little boy on the farm when asked to go out to the barn in the pitch dark with the lantern, says to his dad, "but I can't see the barn from here with just that light". When the father replies that he just needs to walk to the end of the lighted way and then he will have light to see the next part of the path, the boy realizes that he has all the light he needs.

   I can't see all the way, but, if I just use what I have, I have all I need.

   Obedience to the Light already shown is the key to more of the same.

   Go and Do

Father's Day

   All over the country today, in churches large and small, the pastor asked all fathers to stand and be recognized. Then they were thanked for their efforts in raising a family, especially in the Christian way, and, last but not least, the congregation gave them a round of applause.

   The pastor then preached a sermon for the occasion, extolling the virtues of the Christian Dad and following with some pointed remarks about how these men could perhaps do a little bit better. He reminded the fathers of Biblical passages that told what a father should be and ended with an admonition to do better.

   Well, the preacher probably did not say it in quite those words, but that is often what I hear. All those passages and Biblical wisdom sometimes just seems to point out the areas of failure that can relate to dads in general and me in particular. What is probably meant as an encouraging message can be easily flipped on its ear by the listener, into a guilt trip of the first magnitude.

   There is no doubt that I made mistakes in raising my kids, probably too many to count. Did we do some things right, sure. Did they mature to be responsible adults, you bet. Did we have a lot of fun and make a lot of great memories along the way, no doubt.

   I know "great" is an overused word these days, but that is how I describe my kids, their spouses and their offspring. (I would say awesome, but that is more overused.)

   So what is my role as a Dad and our role as parents, today? First of all to be an example as to live out life, secondly to be encouragers, and thirdly to help when asked. On top of all this is to be faithful to pray for them all.

   My prayer above all of this today is for God to take away the effects of any bad decisions on my part as I tried to lead them, and to draw them close to Him so that they can avoid doing the same.

   My advice to the dads and moms, multiply the good things your dad did and push all that other stuff under the rock, and ask God to show you the difference.

Am I Really Supposed To Do That?

   Some may call it putting out a fleece, as in the story of Gideon in the Bible, where he bargained with God to get some sense of what he was supposed to do. One night Gideon put the fleece outside on the ground and the deal was that God was supposed to make the fleece wet from the dew and the ground around it would remain dry. Having administered that test, and its subsequent confirmation of God's will for him to go fight the Midianites, Gideon asked again for a sign, and this time it would be the same scenario, but with the outcome reversed. Sure enough, the fleece remained dry while the surrounding ground was wet with the dew. God had instructed Gideon on what He wanted the Israelite to do, but Gideon wanted to be sure of the bizarre orders.

   At times I feel God telling me something that I should do for Him, but I want to fall back on the "fleece idea" just to make sure I heard it right. Perhaps I heard it wrong and won't really have to do it.

   I have struggled with the idea that I need to work in the prison this coming September, the time for the semi-annual Kairos weekend at Ware State Prison. I don't really know why I question this call, because since the mid 1990s, I have gone on a bunch of these 3 day retreats and am blessed every time I do. But as I get somewhat older, not really old, just somewhat older, it seems to be harder to do it. I have the time and love to work with the men in the prison, but my selfish self calls me to the couch and golf course.

   One of the important activities for volunteers on this mission is team building, which involves a series of meetings in the months prior to the weekend in prison to put the team together on the same page. That way we go in united in purpose and effort. But these sessions are a half day to a full day, on  Saturdays, taking place maybe 30 to 60 miles away from home. It seems like a lot of trouble and I get in the habit of finding excuses not to attend many of these.

   So there was one scheduled for today. Should I go or just say I couldn't and beg off? First of all I did not have a schedule of meetings with times and places, then an email arrived the first of the week, giving me this data. Then the man that I usually ride with called on Friday night saying he could not go. I thought, maybe this is a sign that I did not need to either, so I decided to sleep on it and decide in the morning. All this time, I knew I should, and I understood the importance of the ministry, just not this Saturday.

   So, I went to bed without setting an alarm that would allow me time to get out the house by 7:30. I figured if I needed to go, God would wake me up---first fleece. I woke up at 6:20, OK, plenty of time to read my Scripture reading and see if any other fleeces showed up. Then this verse at the end of Psalm 90:

   "Affirm the work that we do!"

   Could this mean that I should go to this meeting and that God would tell me what I needed to do? Could I learn if my season with Kairos might be over, or that maybe I should take a sabbatical this time around, or just quit looking for ways out of the assignment, and go and serve? Was the option of going today a second fleece?

   So I went, mainly because I knew deep down what I was supposed to do, but then I found that the fleece was wet, or dry, whatever it was supposed to be. God said, I affirm the work you do for Me there, and I want you to keep on, till I make it plain that it is over. Quit looking for excuses to leave the work, just go.

   Surely I won't revert back to fleeces when the July meeting roll around...surely not.

Ripples

   The book I wrote about yesterday still continues to weigh on my mind this morning. I told the story of Major Plagge and his actions toward the Jews under his control in the days of WWII. But, I am still reading the epilogue and his story is not finished, or, at least, his impact has not been fully felt. In fact, his impact will not be fully felt by others, or even by the ones that he helped, till time will cease.

   It is like a pebble, thrown into a pond, whose ripples continue to widen the circle, bringing life and gratitude to people whose lives were affected by that one toss.

   The stories of those who were given a lease on life by this man who wanted to somehow make a difference, who wanted to show the people around him that all Germans were not murderers and sadists, who knew that he could not stop the massive crimes that were going on all around him, but could only affect those few under his control, these stories continue to be told years later.

   Lives are affected, both those who read about the happenings, but more importantly, by those who are alive because of these acts.

   It makes me think about lives of people that have gone before me. How my life is molded and conditioned by what they have done and said. How I am grateful for sacrifice, for courage and for conviction of those folks.

   But it also makes me think of what I am doing to affect others, even in my small life today. How I should be aware of others that intersect my life on any given day. Do I at least give a smile and a good word where I can? Can others see that I care about them, and at least treat them with some respect as a fellow member of the human race? Do I show my gratitude about the past by passing on what I know to be true about the present?

   These are all small things, items that will not be written about anywhere, things that may not be important to many, but a small pebble can still make a ripple.

   God, please help me to make my ripples ones that bless others and make You smile.

One Who Cared

   In the middle of the horrors of the Holocaust in one small out of the way spot in what is now Lithuania, one man with a conscience made a difference in the lives of some people who did not have a voice. This man wore the uniform of the Third Reich, Hitler's regime that caused so much havoc in the lives of Jewish people during those awful days of the 1940s, but he chose to be an angel rather than a devil.

   His name was Karl Plagge, a major in the German army, an incidental figure in the great conflict who made the personal choice to go against the policies of Jewish destruction dictated by his superiors. His small command was a repair facility in Vilna, Lithuania where vehicles were reconditioned for German army use by slave labor. This labor pool happened to be Jews who had been rounded up for execution by Nazi authorities, but he was able to keep a small remnant away from the death chambers and firing squads that destroyed so many.

   It is estimated that six million Jews were killed during the Holocaust of World War II, but, to the 250 or 300 of them that made it through to the end and survived, Major Plagge was a savior. He could have been just another cog in the army machinery, but chose to think and act differently, and that made all the difference in the lives of those men and women, and to their descendants. He was a man who dwelt in obscurity, in the backwater of a huge war and just lived out his conscience.

   I am reminded of other stories from that period, stories of men and women and families who took it upon themselves to hide Jews from the Nazis, at high personal cost. Individuals whom I may never hear their names or the places they lived and worked, but who cared. Indeed there have been many people down through all time who have worked in obscurity, but have made a difference. Only God knows.

   God knows what is done in secret, deeds that help others that do not make the headlines or even the back pages of newspapers, and He is the rewarder, the ultimate rewarder of those who care.

   I want to be one of those.                                              

Get The Whole Message

   And then there is the problem of "selective hearing". I am accused of that sometimes, hearing what I want to hear and conveniently forgetting the whole message.

   From Matthew 17, the gospel writer gives a brief scenario:

    "And while they were gathering together in Galilee, Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men; and they will kill Him, and He will be raised on the third day.” And they were deeply grieved." (NASB)

   It seems the disciples heard the first part of Jesus' statement, that He would be killed, but they either did not hear the second part, or chose not to, "He will be raised on the third day". Maybe they just did not understand what He meant by this. Regardless, they were deeply grieved.

  I can be the same way. I can read a portion of the Scripture, looking for a tidbit to start my day off on the right foot, knowing that I do not have a lot of time to dwell on the whole passage. I need something to hang my hat on, to write about, and to say that I have done my time, and now God should be pleased with my effort.

   True, it can be better than not doing anything, but is it the best?

   I think not.

   Too often my own stuff gets in the way, and my selection process is flawed. I hear what I want to hear for that moment and miss the greater meaning. I can get a message into my brain, but it has a hard time getting to my heart. Maybe I really do not want to hear it at all, so I choose which part is for me. I play God with His Word, and then He is grieved.

   God, please help me to get it right, to see the whole picture the way you want me to.

Have Mercy On.....

   It seems like, sometimes, I get myself caught up in the wrong portion of an equation.

   The Scripture reading is from Matthew 17 and reads like this (from The Message):

   "At the bottom of the mountain, they were met by a crowd of waiting people. As they approached, a man came out of the crowd and fell to his knees begging, "Master, have mercy on my son. He goes out of his mind and suffers terribly, falling into seizures. Frequently he is pitched into the fire, other times into the river. I brought him to your disciples, but they could do nothing for him."

   I see the father in the story pleading for mercy from Jesus, but for his son and not for himself. This father, as we see from the story, has worked with this particular problem for some time, and it is just not getting any better. There is constant care needed to keep the boy from throwing himself into the fire or into the river. The father must stay always vigilant to keep his son alive. It must have been a drain on him over the years.

   I am afraid, if I were in that father's shoes, that I would ask for mercy for myself. Forgetting the suffering of the son, I can hear myself saying, "the caregiver needs help, and he needs it right now. I just can't take the constant strain anymore. Help!"

   I have marveled at friends who have, in effect, subordinated their whole lives to be at the beck and call of a loved one. Maybe, on some days, they had asked for mercy in the situation for themselves, but their primary concern was for that one who suffered. Their love shone forth.

   But this attitude is not just for that very special situation, it is for each and every day. It is the life that says, "you are more important than I am and I will serve you as God leads me".

   Is this not what true love is?

So Let Me Live Today

   The Psalm reading for this morning was in Psalm 93 and 96, and the key phrase from both is:

   "The Lord reigns."

   The idea of God's sovereignty encompasses all of history, past, present and future, and all of the lives of the people who live it. It means that my life is intertwined with all who have come before and those that will come after, but also means that all of my thoughts, actions and interactions are known. How all of this works within the concept of my free will is a mystery to me, but I believe that it is true. It is not just my free will that impacts what I do and say, but that of every other person on the planet. God would have to be God to be able to take care of all of that.

   Then there are the verses from the Gospel reading in Luke 12:

   ^47-48"The servant who knows what his master wants and ignores it, or insolently does whatever he pleases, will be thoroughly thrashed. But if he does a poor job through ignorance, he'll get off with a slap on the hand. Great gifts mean great responsibilities; greater gifts, greater responsibilities!"

   God has placed in my hands, gifts, gifts to be used for Him and for the benefit of others, talents and abilities as well as opportunities for His service. He has orchestrated contacts and openings in my life that can be used for His glory, and He knows about the purpose of each.

   As I sit here this morning, with the day stretching before me, what kind of servant will I be? Will I see the hand of God in what happens, no matter how trivial? Will I look on these hours as a time just to be gotten through, or a time preordained by Him? How will I see the people that cross my path? Is there a purpose in all of this?

   If God truly reigns, and I believe He does, and if He has given me gifts, both material and spiritual, and I believe He has, then there is a responsibility inherent in my living. Not to just escape the punishment of the unworthy servant, but for the Glory of the One Who Reigns.

   God help me to live it out today. The only way I can come close is with Your supernatural help and guidance.

  

Rip Tides

   Our beach has been the scene of some bad rip tides over the past couple of weeks. I thought of this danger as I read this morning.

   69:1 Save me, O God!
For the waters have come up to my neck.2 I sink in deep mire,
where there is no foothold;
I have come into deep waters,
and the flood sweeps over me.
   These are the words from David in Psalm 69 as he is in torment because of some actions of those who do not like him. His life has felt like he was in that rip tide, and he saw no hope in his situation. He cried out to God, in this Psalm, to save him out of this spot, but then he puts a timetable on this salvation in verse 13. It reads:

  13 But as for me, my prayer is to you, O Lord.
At an acceptable time, O God,
in the abundance of your steadfast love answer me in your saving faithfulness.
   In my mind I translate "acceptable time" as a time when God will act in David's case. Of course he would like it to be sooner rather than later, but it is God's time that is important not his.

   The rip tides are a danger to swimmers at the beach, but my attitude toward my times can be a real snare to me as well. Do I look at my life as mine or as God's? Do I  consider what I have done with my time in the past, or my future time to be in my hands or God's? Am I willing to acknowledge that my times are His and not mine?

   When I treat time as mine to do what I want to, do I dishonor God? Do I even think about it?

   I say with the psalmist in Psalm 31, "My times are in Your hands", but are these just words or a conviction? The passage is true, so I need to live that way.

   Oh, God, don't let the rip tides of my selfishness define my life. Let my times be truly Yours.

   Amen

Fifty-four

   One phrase from the reading this morning:

   “Blessed are you"

   That is my story as I look back on fifty-four years of marriage, and all those years with the same woman.

   Did I know back in 1958, what I was getting into? No Way! It is a good thing that God knew, even if I did not have a clue. Did I over marry? Sure, I got much more than I should have, definitely more than I deserved.

   Some would say that I was lucky, but I would reply that I was blessed. God knew all that would happen over this time, and He gave me a companion and friend that would see me through it all. Through the many good times we have had together and through some rough times also. The main thing was that He allowed us to share those times together.

   How many more are in front of us? On earth, there is no telling, but for eternity there is no counting, and that is worth a big Thank You.

  

   I am truly blessed...thanks be to God!

What Makes Parents Proud?

   When I look at the two Examens each morning, I plan to use the Psalm one to pray by and the Gospel one to reflect on, but some days I get caught up in the first, and it seems to speak to me more than the second. So today, Psalm 72 is my starting point. In this Psalm, which is a Psalm of David about his son Solomon, it states:

   "May he defend the cause of the poor of the people,
give deliverance to the children of the needy,"
   David is asking God to bless his son, who will be the next king, in ways that will allow him to govern his people wisely and well, causing the land to prosper under his reign. One of the things David asks God to give his son is a concern for the poor and needy in the land, justice for the people who have no advocate to look out for them.

   As parents we want God to bless our children and their families as well. We are always proud and happy when we see the evidence of those concerns for others manifested in their lives.

   I think of Dwayne's encouragement of service learning projects with the students in his school in North Carolina. Teaching students that school is not just a gathering of facts to be proud of, but cultivating a sense of caring for those less fortunate and making those needs personal for the students.

   I think of Donna in her college class, using her knitting skills to lead her students to create items for unwed mothers and their babies. Just to get the guys and gals in that university, first of all to be aware that there are needs out there, and secondly that they can individually and collectively help.

   I also think of Doug and his family as they support children overseas, kids who might have nothing if not for the money and prayers of those of us who have more than enough. This is not just the sending of a check, but it is a learning opportunity for the kids in the home, making them aware of people in need, and then they can put a face on at least one person who falls in that category.

   Small things maybe, but steps on the road to making a lifestyle the consideration of others. I believe that God smiles when we care.

   It is so easy for me to get caught up in myself. I need this reminder.

Satisfaction, Long Term

   There was one thing about Jesus that is hard to escape. Wherever He went, He attracted crowds of people. They probably came to Him for a variety of reasons, some to find something, some to see the attraction, some to deride, some to find fault, and some for curiosity. The people in the crowd of today's reading are spoken of this way:

   "Jesus went on from there and walked beside the Sea of Galilee. And he went up on the mountain and sat down there. 30 And great crowds came to him, bringing with them the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute, and many others, and they put them at his feet, and he healed them, 31 so that the crowd wondered, when they saw the mute speaking, the crippled healthy, the lame walking, and the blind seeing. And they glorified the God of Israel."

   The next verse goes on to say that they had been with Jesus for 3 days already, so these were folks that were into what He was doing and saying. At least most of the fault-finders and curiosity-seekers had probably checked out and gone home by now.

   I see at least 4 things about that crowd:

      They came, they brought, they were awed, and they glorified God. What a recipe for my life each day as I come in this early morning hour.

   And there was one final thing that spoke of the crowd at the end of the reading:


   "and they were satisfied"

   Sure they had been physically fed by The Master, but they went away with much more than that. They had seen and heard and received. The food that had satisfied their stomachs would soon pass away, but the other things that were made known to them would last forever.

   How about me in that crowd?

Let go!

   There is a cartoon that comes to me as I meditate this morning. I see a man clinging to a small bush on the side of a cliff. He has fallen off the edge and all that is keeping him from falling to the bottom is this piece of root sticking out of the wall of the drop off. In desperation, he calls out "Help" and the voice from the top simply says, "let go". Dismissing the advice, and not wanting to look down at his fate, he calls out again and again the voice comes back, "let go".  Little does the man know that a ledge is only inches below his feet, and, that by following the instruction from above, he will find safety. Instead he pleads, "Is anybody else up there?"

   What do I need to let go of?

   The woman in the portion of Scripture, that was the reading for this morning, gave up her pride, as she fell at the feet of Jesus and begged for the life of her daughter, who was dying. Pride is also a big stumbling block for me, and I can relate to this.

   Standing right there next to pride is the feeling of self-sufficiency. I can do it, I can solve it, I can, I can... If I can put just a little more effort into that, I can get it done. There is nothing that I cannot do, or cannot be, if I can just channel my mind and body to do it, and I can do it by myself. I need to let that go, for sure.

   Akin to those two ideas, is the notion that my worth is tied up in what I can do, or who I am. Whether it be on the golf course or tennis court or even in writing this blog post, I can let this define my net worth. These things cause an up and down roller coaster of existence, and they need to go.

   Added to the above is the trust that I have in material things and even health. These are truly blessings from the hand of God, but the trust in them should have no place in my life. That sort of trust is uncalled for.

   And there are others: holding on to the past, holding on to some scenario of the future, even grasping tightly the things of the present. These don't belong either.

   Truthfully, when I think on these things, and others that God brings to my mind, I want to say, "is anybody else up there?" I am comfortable in my ways, and the unknown of letting go, is not appealing.

   BUT, I hear two words on this subject, and they appear to come from above,

   LET GO

 

Everything Will Work Out...

   One of my favorite things to say as our kids were growing up was "everything will work out".

   Now the following is not a movie recommendation, but there was a line from a film that we saw yesterday that went something like this: "Everything will work out right in the end. If it is not all right now, then realize that the end has not yet come".

   From a Christian point of view, the right end may not always come in this life, though it may, but will definitely be there in the second. God will make all things right.

   That movie line surfaced again to me as I sat and listened to the pastor's sermon this morning. He was talking about living a life in front of your children that will make their faith vital and alive. The takeaway was the question regarding how vital was my faith and how observable to my family.

   When we say that it will all work out, is it just a passive waiting time or more than that? It occurs to me that there is an active ingredient to the whole recipe. It is not just putting myself in all the right places and sitting back, waiting for all the right things to happen.

  If I put myself there and do not heed the voices that come out of those experiences, what good has it been for me to be there?

   God is in control, but He wants me to actively follow his leading, not just sleep and wait.

   And it will work out.

  

A Little Scary Sometimes

   What I say matters, and even the way I say it matters.

   There are some verses in Matthew 15 this morning:

   "what comes out of the mouth gets its start in the heart. It's from the heart that we vomit up evil arguments, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, lies, and cussing. That's what pollutes." (The Message)

   The tongue can be an instrument for good or bad. It is a powerful weapon and a powerful indicator of who a person is, really is.

   People judge me by the words that I speak, and I try to be careful in my speech, but there is One other that listens to me also.

   From the reading in Psalms 55 today:

   "He hears my voice."

   There are words that do not even reach my lips that are important, because God hears my voice. The audible one and the one of the heart are both accessible to Him. It is good to know that God hears me, but I want Him to hear the right things. I not only want to sound right, I want to be that way too.

  "Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart

Be acceptable in Your sight,

O Lord, my rock and my Redeemer." (ASV)

  

Come and Get Out

   After I wrote this blog yesterday morning, I had a good feeling. I had taken a portion of the Psalm I read and saw how it applied to my life. It seemed to come easy to do this as the thought of thanksgiving resonated with my soul. Whether anyone else read it and could apply it to their life was pretty immaterial, I saw it as the correct interpretation of Scripture, at least for me in that moment.

   Then this morning, as I read the episode of Jesus walking on the water and Peter wanting to do the same, I saw something else, something that gave me pause.

   After Peter asks if he could come to Jesus on the water, the story continues:

   "Peter, suddenly bold, said, "Master, if it's really you, call me to come to you on the water."

 ^29-30He said, "Come ahead."

   Jumping out of the boat, Peter walked on the water to Jesus. But when he looked down at the waves churning beneath his feet, he lost his nerve and started to sink. He cried, "Master, save me!"

 ³¹Jesus didn't hesitate. He reached down and grabbed his hand. Then he said, "Faint-heart, what got into you?"

   Yes, the first command is Come, but after Peter obeys and then realizes what he is doing, he is met with a term from Jesus, faint-heart.

   It seems easy for me to sit in the boat of thankfulness and let the feeling of thinking that, yes, I am truly thankful, forgetting that it is a sacrifice to be truly that way. When asked to live in that mode, to get out of the feeling good boat and show it in other ways than just writing words in a blog, I start to sink. In fact I do not even want to get out of the boat.

   I can see ways to show my thankfulness, God places some things on my heart, but then I think I see some consequences of those actions, and I pause. Faint hearted is too mild a term. Unwilling might be closer to the truth.

   At least Peter got out of the boat!