Reflections of Joy

How Shall We Then Live - Part Four

2010-05-17T11:01:00.005-05:00

(Graduation address continued)

Finally, if we want to know how to live, we have to learn to be people of honesty and forgiveness. Jesus said, "The truth will set you free."

I walked into my doctor's office about 8 years ago complaining of a chronic intestinal issue. It was a problem that went all the way back to my college days. I expected my doctor to give me a pep talk about my diet and to give me something to take for it. Instead, she looked at me right in the eye and said, "Until you deal with whatever is upsetting you, you are going to keep coming back here for the same problems." What? I thought she had lost her mind until I realized there was truth to what she was telling me. She wanted me to face my problems head on, tell myself the truth about them, give them to God, and then let go of them. On that day, I started down on what I call the "path of truth", and I've never looked back.

We live in a world of liars. Politicians lie, parents lie to their children, children lie to their parents, we live to ourselves. We lie, because we cannot face the truth about ourselves.

The truth is, we are made in the image of God, born with incredible gifts and abilities, but sin has destroyed that beauty. Like a masterpiece painted on a rotting canvas that has been knifed and then spray-painted with graffi, we cannot look at the beauty that is us without looking at the rot and damage that has been done. The horror that something so beautiful could be damaged so badly is unbearable to us, so we look the other way, or we lie about it.

This is why we must have that relationship with God that I talked about when I started. Christ died and rose again to deal with our sin. When we yield ourselves to God and allow Him to deal with our fallen nature, we begin to see for the first time who He meant for us to be. He begins restoration (our sanctification) on the masterpiece that is us. He restores the rotten canvas, cleans up the graffiti, repairs the holes, and we start becoming what He meant for us to be all along.

That means we ask God for grace to live a life of honesty and forgiveness: honesty with God by confessing our sins to Him daily and accepting His forgivenss; honesty with others by not hiding who we really are behind masks, vowing to tell the truth no matter how much it hurts, and forgiving others when they sin against us; and honesty, by refusing to lie to ourselves about what and who we really are and forgiving ourselves when we fail.

How shall we then live? We must vow to live with and for God first, and then for others.

What kind of people should we be? We must be men and women of truth and forgiveness.

I will close with this quotation from Oliver DeMille and Sharon Brooks in their book Thomas Jefferson Education for Teens.

It is said that when God wants to change the world, he sends a baby--perfectly timed to grow, learn, prepare, and then take action at the right moment...when God sees a need coming in the world, he sends a baby.

But there are times when one baby won't suffice, when the challenges the world faces are just too much; and so instead of a great reformer or a few key people, what is needed is a whole generation of leaders.

When the world is broken, a generation is born. We live in such a world. And you are such a generation.

Gandhi is ofen credited with saying that you should be the change you wish to see in the world. We wonder if he meant literally that you should change the world's problems in yourself? Maybe.

But we think he also meant that you should be who you were truly born to be-the best, true, Real You!

Is there anything in the world as powerful as a person who is truly himself? Or herself? Especially when the person is in love with good?

And I will add, especially when that person is in love with God and others.

How Shall We Then Live - Part Three

2010-05-17T10:48:00.004-05:00

(Graduation address continued)

Next, if we want to know how to live, we need to learn that people are more important than our education, our jobs, our success, or our personal pleasure. Jesus said that the law can be summed up this way, "Love the Lord Your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself." When we love our neighbors as ourselves, we think of others and their needs before our own.

There is a song written by Harry Chapin that was popular when I was growing up. I heard it again in the grocery store recently. It's called, "Cats in the Cradle". The song is about a father who is so busy with work and bills and responsibilities he doesn't have time to spend with his son. When the son is all grown up and the father finally has found some time to spend with his son, the son is too busy. It's a sad song, because it mirrors what so often happens. Our lives, our plans, our goals, our selfishness gets in the way of the people in our lives.

In February, we lost my brother-in-law to a tragic death. His own son shot and killed him. My sister's world was turned upside down in a matter of seconds. When she looked at the mess of her family and the destruction of her home by the police and investigators who ransacked her house and belongings, she said to me, "Next to God, the only thing that really matters in life is people." My sister lives what she said, and it became apparent when hundreds of her friends showed up to support her on the day of her husband's wake. The lines of people were out the door, and the ushers finally had to close the doors and send people away, because my sister was so exhausted from greeting them. There were over 500 who showed up, and she took the time to speak personally to every person who stepped in the door.

In the days that followed my 22-year-old nephew and I sat in a restaurant sipping coffee and reflecting on the lessons that God was teaching our family. I was telling him how difficult it is to balance all my responsibilites of housework, homeschooling, church and family and still give attention to the people in my life. He challenged me to make people my priority by doing at least one thing for someone every day that is a sacrifice to me, simply because I love them. I took up his challenge, and it has changed my life.

For me, a sacrifice is dropping what I'm doing to help my husband with one of his chores, or listening to one of my children telling me the same thing for the 10th time, or being kind to someone who has been unkind to me without expecting something in return.

If our society, if our world is falling apart, it's because we have forgotten that it is people who make our world what it is. And each perons in this world has value. If we don't invest in others, our soceity will self-destruct.

How Shall We Then Live - Part Two

2010-05-17T10:29:00.007-05:00

(Graduatin speech continued)

So, how are you going to live your life? What kind of person are you going to be?

When my daughter was born, we put a lot of thought into what to name her. Her name is one my husband and I put together. "Anna" means "grace" and "lyn" (spelled slightly differently in Welsh) is a word that means "a rushing stream or waterfall". When she was a baby, I made a plaque to put on her wall. It had the meaning of her name, and it had some Scripture verses, one from Isaiah 55:1 which says "Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters;" and from John 7:37, 38 "Jesus stood up and cried out, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, 'Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water'".
We chose that name for our daughter, because we wanted her to remember every time she heard her name that God's grace is what she needs every day, and that the thirst of her soul can only be quenched by Jesus Christ. And this is true of all of us.

We are all thirsty in our souls, and our greatest temptation every day of our lives is to try to quench that thirst with anything we can think of but God, whether it be success, money, clothes, power, or prestige. The truth is that God is our source of satisfaction and all other things in life must revolve around our relationship with Him.

One of my dear friends passed away about this time a few years ago. To the world's standards, he died a failure. He had spent the first 45 years of his life trying to satisfy the needs of his heart with relationships, sex, hobbies, work, money and alcohol. But it all failed him. One day, he was taken to the hospital and died on the operating table in the emergency room. He had overdosed on something, and the doctors were ready to send him to the morgue when suddenly he came back to life. He told me, "When I died, I was not a Christian. When I woke, I was a Christian." He only lived another 5 years. At first, not much changed after his brush with death, and even to the casual observer, his faith in Christ seemed nothing more than an outward profession. He had been an alcoholic before, and he was still and alcoholic.
Within a year, he started connnecting with other believers, and his faith in Christ began to grow. he found a church and started meeting with a pastor who encouraged him to get some help with his alcohol addiction. He finally quit drinking, but sadly, the damage that had been done was so bad there was no hope for a physical recovery. He spent most of the last nine months of his life in a hospital bed dying of cancer brought on by decades of drinking. In those last months, we talked a lot, and our conversations would usually turn to the Lord. He would tell me how much he loved God, and then he would say "God has never let me down."

How could someone who was lying in bed in excruciating pain and dying of cancer which was brought on by his own foolishness say with such conviction, "God has never let me down."

In the last days of his life, my friend had finally learned how to live. he had developed a relationship with God. He was drinking from the foundation of living water, and his soul was being satisfied.

If we want to know how to live, we must make loving God the number one priority in our lives and learn to run to Him first and drink deeply when we feel thirst in our souls.

How Shall We Then Live? Part One

2010-05-17T10:02:00.003-05:00

The following is my address to a small group of homeschooled high school graduates (minus my introductions). Because of it's length, I will post in series over a few days.

The 1960s and 1970s were a time of upheaval, civil unrest and change. It's the world in which I grew up. We faced the sexual revolution, the Vietnam War, drugs, the crumbling of society, the decay of the church, the breakdown of public education, race riots, the assassination of Kennedy, and Woodstock. I can remember as a small child driving into Chicago with my parents for a visit to the doctor and having to take a detour around a certain part of town because Martin Luther King, Jr. was speaking, and there were open riots in the streets. My sister, in her freshman year of high school had to keep her lunch under lock and key and guard it while she ate, because students were dropping LSD into other student's food. One summer, construction workers arrived at the public elementary school I attended and smashed down the interior walls. The next fall students were subjected to the new experiment of "open classrooms". In 5th grade, I was chosen to be an experiment for "individualized math" which was nothing more than a free hour to goof off in school every day while my fellow students actually learned something.

Even so, as a child and a teen, I was almost oblivious to what was going on around me. My parents pulled me out of the public school system when I was 12 years old and put me and my sisters in a private Christian school. Ours was one of the first Christian (protestant) schools in Illinois. My mother and father, who loved God first above all things, were willing to do what they believed was the right thing for their children in the face of opposition...and there was great opposition to private Christian schools in those days. The graduates of my high school and other schools like it became the pioneers of the home school movement. Some of the parents sitting in this room are part of my generation, and they, like my parents, in the face of opposition, forged forward and choose the education they believed to be the best for their children. If it were not for their efforts, we would not be here tonight.

Each era has its challenges, but some seem to be worse than others. Again, we are staring in the face of an evil age, and one far worse in many ways than what my generation faced, because the restraints of evil which were securely in place when I was a child have been thrown off, and men and women seem to feel no shame at doing whatever they please no matter how wicked it is. Goodness seems to be dying. Where are the righteous?

Tonight, you will walk out that door and officially being your life as an adult. Soon you will make choices about your career, your education, your politics and your relationships. You will decide where to live, where to go to church; but none of these decisions will make any difference in the long run if you haven't answered the question: "How Shall We Then Live?"

This question is the title of a book by Francis Schaeffer written during the great upheavals of the 1960s and 70s. I have to admit, I've never read it completely, but the title haunted me for years. As I faced the world around me, as I faced the decisions of life: who to marry, where to go to school, where to live, where to work, it was a question for which I needed an answer. And it is the question for which you need an answer. Because the Word of God teaches us that this world and all that is in it, is nothing more than place to hang our hats for a little while. It is who we are and what we do while we are here that matters.

Whose World is it Anyway?

2009-09-24T12:38:00.003-05:00

“Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.” Revelation 11:15

I’ve been following national and international news lately, and frankly, I find it worse than depressing. The price of gold is higher than it’s ever been, unemployment rates are in double digits. The cost of everything is rising rapidly. Yesterday, I walked into a local store to buy something that just two days before had cost $0.82. It was now $1.50. I questioned the cashier, and she said, “I wondered why everyone stopped buying that.”

Our government is passing legislation that 10 years ago most of the population would have opposed. Our nation is engaged in multiple wars in the Middle East. And let’s not forget tyranny, death and destruction across the globe. The church is weak. Professing Christians act more like pagans than a lot of the pagans. All of this makes my heart ache. I am tempted to fall down in despair and wonder who’s in charge.
To look around, it appears that the enemy of our souls is completely in charge. It looks like the Church is being defeated, and that evil will win the day. But when we read Revelation 11, we find that God knew about this all along. Here the 24 elders cry out in worship--

“We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty,who is and who was,

for you have taken your great powerand begun to reign.

The nations raged,but your wrath came,

and the time for the dead to be judged,

and for rewarding your servants,

the prophets and saints,and those who fear your name,

both small and great,

and for destroying the destroyers of the earth.”

For some reason, and in God’s large and grand purpose, He is going to allow the enemy freedom to destroy the earth. That however, is not the last chapter. It is the chapter before the last chapter. These things must come to pass before the judgment. We ought not to fear, but to take heart. The kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ will come, and He will reign for ever and ever. The scriptures also teach us that we will reign with Him.

So, take heart, the last chapter is already written. The enemy of our souls has already lost. We must go forward, pray, share the Gospel and live like children of the Great King whom we serve.

"For such a time as this"

2009-03-29T13:49:00.003-05:00

The book of Esther (found in the Old Testament) recounts the true story of a beautiful young Jewish girl who is taken from her uncle Mordecai, her guardian, into the harem of King Ahasuerus. After months of preparation, Esther is taken before the king, and he quickly falls in love with her and makes her his queen.

Not long after, Mordecai learns that one of the king's most powerful men, Haman, is plotting to exterminate all the Jews in the kingdom. Mordecai notifies Esther of Haman's plan and begs her to petition the king on behalf of her people. To do so, would mean Esther would have to go before the king without being summoned. Esther replies to Mordecai, that if she were to do that, she risked losing the king's favor as well as her life.

Mordecai answered back, "For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father's house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”

Esther sent word back to Mordecai that she would pray and fast, then go before the king. Her final thought was, "If I perish, I perish." Esther prayed and fasted, then went before the king without being summoned, and she won his favor. In the end, Haman was killed, and the Jewish people were saved.

It was a horrible thing for Esther to be taken from her home as a young lady and banished to the harem of the king for the rest of her life. It was risky to go against the king's wishes. In short, the circumstances were not stacked in Esther's favor, and yet God placed her in those circumstances so an entire nation could be saved.

Recently I was talking to a friend about the difficult times in which we are living. The economy is bad, people are losing jobs, houses are foreclosing, the world is in turmoil. I t looks like we are heading into the worst depression this nation has ever faced, and war or revolution is probably just around the corner. It's down right depressing if you think about it too long. As we continued to talk, my friend reminded me of something her grandfather used to say, "You were made for your time." In other words, God didn't just drop us into existence in 2009, He made us just for the time in which we are living. My parents grew up during WWII, and my grandparents survived the Great Depression, and God gave them what they needed to survive it. It is no different for us.

How does that play out for us? How are we to live? Knowing that God made us for our time means that we need to readily accept from God's hand whatever He brings our way knowing it will ultimately accomplish His purposes. It means that we need to take our eyes off the misery and woe of our times and fix our eyes on God knowing nothing will come our way that hasn't passed through His hand first. It means we should get on our hands and knees and like Esther fast and pray and repent of our evil ways and believe in our God who never fails.

Ultimately, it is a privilege to live in the time in which we live, because we were made for it. If we cower and hide instead of trusting our God and boldly facing what He brings to us, we will miss out on the blessing. We will miss out on the closeness we could have had with Him.

God made us and put us here "for such a time as this".

Are You Thirsty?

2009-02-23T21:24:00.003-05:00

“Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price." Isaiah 55:1

Have you ever been thirsty? I'm not talking about the mild thirst you have when it's been two hours since you had anything to drink. I'm talking about the kind of thirst you have when you've been outside working all day and forgot to bring some water with you. I remember being really thirsty once.

A friend of mine and I decided one day to go to a local state park for a short hike. We had all day, but were only thinking about being out for an hour or so. When we arrived at the entrance to the hiking trails, we found a sign that marked out three trails. The first was about 3/4 of a mile (a one hour hike). I don't remember the length of the second, but the third hike was 1.5 miles. The sign said the hike would take 4 hours.

I laughed when I read the sign. Four hours? The other trail said it would take one hour, and I'd hiked it many times, it never took more than 30 minutes. "That sign must be wrong," I said. "How could it take four hours to hike 1.5 miles?" We opted for the longer trail.

We took off at a comfortable pace making great time. We rounded a bend and suddenly the trail got steeper and steeper and steeper. It looked like it was going straight up. Our quick pace soon slowed down to a serious crawl. The day grew warmer and the hike seemed to never come to an end. We stopped several times to catch our breath. By the time we reached the summit (yes, the trail was up the side of a small mountain), we were hot, sweaty and very thirsty. Two and a half hours had passed, and we still had to go back down. As we neared the end of the trail, we came to a mossy spot on a rock that looked out over the mountains. The view was breath-taking, but we could not enjoy it. We sat down to rest trying not to think of how thirsty we were.

Just then some hikers turned the corner and one of them called out my name. I couldn't believe it. There stood a friend of mine and her boyfriend. She immediately assessed our situation and asked, "Didn't you bring any food or water?" "No," I replied, a little embarrassed. She then opened up her back pack and pulled out two bottles of water and some snacks. "Here" she said, "I brought extras. We don't need them." It didn't take us long to finish off the water. It was one of the best drinks of water I've ever had.

I've experienced another type of thirst that can't be quenched with water. It was not a physical thirst, but an inner thirst, a longing to know God. No bottle of water could quench that thirst.

John's Gospel tells us that one day Jesus went to the well at Samaria. When He was there, He met a woman who was drawing water from the well. He told her that He could offer living water. If she drank it, she would never thirst again. He was speaking to her of the water of life that only God can give.

Are you thirsty in your soul? Isaiah says, "Come everyone who is thirsty. Come to the waters" Drink and live. If you are thirsty, come. If you long to know God, come. He will quench the thirst you feel.

On the day we hiked up the mountain, our thirst was temporarily quenched. We hiked back down the mountain (It did take an entire 4 hours to complete the hike.), and by the time we reached the bottom, we were thirsty again. God quenched my inner thirst, and it is for eternity.

Do Not Fear

2009-02-15T14:49:00.005-05:00

But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;when you walk through fire you shall not be burned,and the flame shall not consume you.

For I am the Lord your God,the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.

Isaiah 43:1-3 (ESV)

Our pastor is taking us through the book of Genesis in our Sunday morning worship. In the last few weeks, we've been focusing on the life of Abraham. As we gone through the events in Abraham's life, I've been impressed with how human Abraham was. He had his ups and downs, mistakes, failures, victories and blessings, and the great Abraham experienced fear. In Genesis 15:1, God said to Abraham "Fear not, I am your shield and your great reward." Since God told Abraham not to fear, he must have been afraid.

This past week, my daughter was telling me about the irrational behavior of the parent of one of her friends. She could not understand why the parent was behaving in such a ridiculous manner. As I thought about it for a moment, I responded, "This person is afraid, and it is fear that is driving them to be irrational. The person is not trusting God.

As I've thought about Abraham, the irrational parent and me, I realize that one of the greatest hindrances we have in our Christian life is fear, and we fear because we do not know or trust our God.

God understands this about us, and He assures us with His promise that He will not fail us. And as we were reminded this morning, God came through on His promise to Abraham and to us, by giving us Jesus Christ and redeeming us. We do not need to fear.

These Times in Which We Live

2008-10-07T11:14:00.005-05:00

NOTE: As you might have noticed from my posts (and lack of posts), this past summer was a trying one. Many changes for the good have taken place, and I can see God's hand working both in my personal life and in the lives of my family. I am grateful to the Lord for what He is doing. Writing, however, has been difficult. Thanks, to you, my readers for your patience.

Righteousness exalts a nation,but sin is a reproach to any people.

Proverbs 14:34 (ESV)

Last evening, I was watching a series of programs on the Roman Empire. It featured some of Rome's great accomplishments and great failures. One of the programs featured Caligula, a particularly wicked emperor who terrorized Rome and its citizens in the short time he served as their ruler. More than once, the commentator said Roman citizens "cowered in fear" of what Caligula might do next. Murder, incest, treachery, you name it, Caligula did it. And Rome's citizen's endured it.

As I listened to the horror stories of Caligula, I couldn't help but think of the above verse from Proverbs. Why? Because Caligula was nothing more than a representation of the wickedness that was rampant in Roman society. Of course, not every Roman citizen was as bad as Caligula, but the society, in general, had been tolerant of the behavior. Instead of saying "no" to the sin, Rome had embraced the sin by allowing it to continue.

Sadly, American society is not unlike Rome in the days of Rome's emperors. While our society has never been perfect, it has not always openly tolerated sin the way it does today. Marriage is at all-time low, broken families are common, sins we would never have dreamed of speaking about publicly are joked about on the airways. Throughout our history, when we have tolerated sin, we have worn our reproach, and eventually God has punished us.

Rome paid for its sin in the reign of terror brought on by Caligula and other similar leaders. America will pay for the bad decisions currently being made by Wall Street and Congress. The outcome of the election will tell how dearly we will pay for our foolishness.

All is not lost, however. Nations rise and nations fall, and God is in control. Caligula was only allowed to serve for a few years before Roman officials had him executed. His reign of terror strengthened the Church and though many died for their faith, many more were brought to Christ during that time.

The healing of our land will most likely not come before we see our reproach, but for those of us who put our hope in God, these are not times for panic or despair. Rather they are the time to repent of our sin and draw near to God Who promises that if we do, He will draw near to us.

If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land. II Chronicles 7:14 (ESV)

Comments--A Note

2008-10-07T10:59:00.004-05:00

I sincerely appreciate all the comments I receive from my readers. I like to know how I can serve my readers better. Please keep the comments coming.

If you posted something to my site, and I did not publish it, it was probably for one of the following reasons (Hopefully, it wasn't because I accidentally deleted it!):

I do not publish comments that are unrelated to the topic at hand.

While I sometimes publish controversial topics, and I will post a controversial comment (if it has something to do with the post), I will not publish comments that are unrelated AND controversial. This only serves to cause unnecessary friction that is best left debated elsewhere.

If you wish to debate or discuss a topic with me that I have not addressed directly on my site, please feel free to send your comments with an email address to which I can reply directly. I love theology. I love to be challenged by other believers, and I do care about every one of my readers.

Thanks.

God is My Strength and Portion Forever

2008-08-22T09:26:00.004-05:00

My flesh and my heart may fail,but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

Psalm 73: 26 (ESV)

Have you ever felt as though the whole world was against you?

When we look at the prosperity of the wicked, it can feel that way. The rich get richer by cheating the poor, the powerful grab for more power and trample the weak, and the wicked feed on the innocent like lions on a fresh carcass. And where is lady justice? She's been removed from her pedestal; her scales broken and thrown in the rubbish heap.

In these times, we feel all alone, as if God has completely abandoned us and nothing will remedy our situation. While it is a comfort to read Psalm 73 and know that we are not the only ones who have felt this way, it is a greater comfort to realize that the end of the righteous is not the end of the wicked.

For those of us who belong to God, we have the comfort of knowing that He is with in our struggles. If you are struggling today, may you find strength in the words of Psalm 73.

Truly God is good to Israel,to those who are pure in heart.

But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled,my steps had nearly slipped.

For I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
For they have no pangs until death; their bodies are fat and sleek.

They are not in trouble as others are; they are not stricken like the rest of mankind.

Therefore pride is their necklace;violence covers them as a garment.

Their eyes swell out through fatness; their hearts overflow with follies.

They scoff and speak with malice; loftily they threaten oppression.

They set their mouths against the heavens,and their tongue struts through the earth.

Therefore his people turn back to them, and find no fault in them.

And they say, “How can God know? Is there knowledge in the Most High?”

Behold, these are the wicked; always at ease, they increase in riches.

All in vain have I kept my heart clean and washed my hands in innocence.

For all the day long I have been stricken and rebuked every morning.

If I had said, “I will speak thus,”I would have betrayed the generation of your children.
But when I thought how to understand this,it seemed to me a wearisome task,until I went into the sanctuary of God;then I discerned their end.
Truly you set them in slippery places;you make them fall to ruin.

How they are destroyed in a moment,swept away utterly by terrors!

Like a dream when one awakes,O Lord, when you rouse yourself, you despise them as phantoms.

When my soul was embittered,when I was pricked in heart, I was brutish and ignorant; I was like a beast toward you.
Nevertheless, I am continually with you; you hold my right hand.

You guide me with your counsel,and afterward you will receive me to glory.

Whom have I in heaven but you?And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.

My flesh and my heart may fail,but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
For behold, those who are far from you shall perish; you put an end to everyone who is unfaithful to you.

But for me it is good to be near God;I have made the Lord God my refuge,that I may tell of all your works.

In God's Time

2008-07-18T07:35:00.002-05:00

"Can I have it now?"
If you have children or raised children, or even spent a lot of time around children, you are familiar with this phrase. We all want instant gratification, but children seem to be more adept at blurting it out.

The last several times we have driven past a particular play ground in our community, my daughter has asked me if she could get out and slide down the slide just one time. Of course, she asks this when we are on our way to a scheduled event (and we're already late) or on our way home from the grocery store with bag of melting frozen food. When the time is right, (and I will take my daughter to the playground), we will go to the playground and spend more time than it takes to slide down the slide one time.

"Timing is everything" we hear so often. It is that way in our lives, and it is the same in God's economy.

Have you ever asked God for something and then wondered why He didn't hurry up and answer? In Daniel chapter 9, there is recorded the prayer of Daniel for God's people. Daniel fasted and put on sackcloth and ashes and cried out to the Lord. Finally, the angel Gabriel comes to Daniel with an answer, "At the beginning of your pleas for mercy a word went out, and I have come to tell it to you, for you are greatly loved. Therefore consider the word and understand the vision." (Daniel 9:23, 24 ESV) We don't know how much time passed between the time Daniel began praying and the time that God answered, but we do know two things: God greatly loved Daniel, and He sent out an answer as soon as Daniel prayed.

I find this a great comfort, because sometimes trials seem to go on forever, or the prayers I pray seem to go unanswered, or it seems God is telling me to wait until the time is right. The truth is we are greatly loved by God. He cares about our needs and our desires; He answers when we call on Him. "He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?" (Romans 8:32, ESV)

I love my daughter, and I want to give her something she enjoys doing, but the timing has to be right. In a much greater way, God loves us. He gave us the thing that was the most dear to Him. He will freely answer our prayers when the time is right.

An Unassuming Man

2008-07-17T16:25:00.005-05:00

My job with the local paper takes me into some interesting places where I have the opportunity to meet some fascinating people. Today was one of those days. Earlier in the week, I talked with my boss who asked me if I would be willing to write a story on the 62nd reunion of a class of a high school that is no longer in existence. She gave me the name of a man and his wife who organized the reunion. I called and made an appointment to meet them.

I arrived at their home armed with my camera and notebook expecting to hear interesting stories about the class. Instead, I was introduced to one of the most interesting individuals I have met in a long time and bombarded with more information than I knew how to handle.

The man and his wife, who looked to be in their mid sixties welcomed me into their home and immediately introduced me to his 102 year invalid mother who was unable to do anything but sit and listen, but she seemed delighted to have the company. We sat down at the dining room table, and the man spread out old maps of the county and began to tell me about the history of the high school.

As we talked, I learned that the man in front of me was not in his 60s but in his 80s. He was a retired pastor, navy chaplain, missionary, town mayor (the youngest ever in South Carolina--elected into office at age 22) and founder of one of the largest religious magazines in the world. He worked on the first NASA project (it was top secret then), and pastored over 33,000 heads of families as a navy chaplain.

One of the things that impressed me most about this man was his humility and love for the Lord. At the end of our conversation, he walked me upstairs to show me another part of their home. In the back was his office. On the walls were plaques, certificates and pictures from his life. He picked up a photograph and showed me a picture of him standing in front of St. James church in Chicago with a catholic bishop and a high-ranking military chaplain. He said to me, "You know what I preached when I got in front of those people?" He paused and looked at me straight in the eye. "I preached the only message there is, the gospel of Jesus Christ. You can't water that down. People are out there searching for God, and we have a message to bring to them. We have to take every opportunity God gives to us." As I began to leave, he kept saying to me, "God is going to do great things in your life." Then he told me he would be praying for me.

Looking at the picture of that man standing in front of St. James Church, I couldn't help but think of Paul the Apostle standing before Caesar. When Paul was given the opportunity to stand before the highest man in all of Rome, he preached Christ. Here was an unassuming man from a tiny little town in South Carolina, and God used him. And what did this man say to me? God is going to do great things in your life. And why wouldn't He? He is a great God.

Step By Step

2008-07-07T21:44:00.002-05:00

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.

Psalm 119:105

And the Lord will guide you continually and satisfy your desire in scorched places and make your bones strong;and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail.

Isaiah 58:11

The steps of a man are established by the Lord,when he delights in his way;Psalm 37:23

Have you ever thought about moment by moment living with God? For me and my family, the last 4 four weeks have been some of the worst we've ever experienced.

Trials have a way of making me run to the Lord quickly, but these recent struggles have made me think again about how I trust the Lord for day-to-day living.

The scriptures are full of verses that tell us to trust in the Lord, walk in His ways, follow Him and obey Him, etc. So often we take this to mean that we are to pray and ask God what He wants us to do and then get on with our business forgetting Him until the next little circumstance requires His assistance. At least that seems to be the way I live my life most of the time.

However, in the last few weeks, God has been taking us us through situations where praying and running on ahead isn't an option. And if I was truthful with myself, running on ahead of God is never an option.

One day during a week or so ago while I was teaching a piano lesson, the phone rang. Usually I don't answer the phone during lessons, but for some reason, I felt it was necessary. I picked up the phone. I listened to the man on the other end of the line. Could I be there as soon as possible? He had important news for me. I needed to be there in person. I hung up the phone and my entire body began to shake. I knew the information he had for me was going to change my life, and I wasn't sure I wanted to hear what he had to say. I finished the piano lesson and asked the mother of my student if she would pray for me.

As soon as I could get my girls together, we jumped into the car and headed to town to find out what I didn't want to hear. I prayed. When I sat there and listened to the man, I prayed. His information stunned me, as I knew it would. I prayed. "Lord, what do I say?" We talked. I prayed. "Lord, what do I do now?" I left his office. I prayed, "What is my next step to be?" I felt like I was walking through muck, not knowing the way out or which way to walk. The next hours, and even the next day were no better. It was then that I woke up to the fact that I couldn't face life, not even one moment of my life without the Lord's help. And He was right there with me while I went through it.

Psalm 119:105 says that God's Word is "a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path." I read once that in Old Testament times when people traveled at night, they attached small lights to their shoes to light the path in front of them. It is interesting to me that God does not tell us He will light the entire path in front of us. Rather, He tells us to walk with Him, and He will show us the next step.

When I lived in France, I did a lot of cross country skiing. One of the nicer places I frequented was "Col de Saisies", now famous because the cross country events during the Winter Olympic games in 1992 where held there. On this particular occasion, we were up near the top of mountain, and it began to snow. Though the trails were well marked, the snow was coming down so hard that the tracks left by the skiers in front of us where covered almost as quickly as they were made. We were in a cloud and literally engulfed in snow. The only way to find our way down to the ski lodge was to stay close to the skiers in front of us. If we lagged behind or left the trail, we would have been trapped up there.

I have often thought of that day and how frightened I was that I might lose sight of the skiers in front of me and be buried in the snow. Sometimes that is how I think God leads me. He's out there in front, making the path plain, but I'm stuck back there hoping against hope that He won't get too far ahead of me.

That is not how God leads us. He lights our path, because He is right there with us. He's not shining the light back on us and telling us to hurry up, nor is He behind us giving us a push into the dark. He's right there with us in much the same way Jesus walked with the disciples on the road to Emmaus. He walks with us and communes with us and tells us which way to go as we are walking along fellowshipping with Him.

This reminds me of a song by Rich Mullins that we used to sing sometimes:

Oh God, You are my God And I will ever praise You

I will seek You in the morning

And I will learn to walk in Your ways

And step by step You'll lead me

And I will follow You all of my days

Prayer in Times of Adversity

2008-06-20T07:25:00.004-05:00

What do you in do in a time of crisis? If you are you anything like me, one of your first reactions is to try to wiggle your way out of it as soon as possible. Who wouldn't? We all dislike adversity and suffering.

There was a recent thread about suffering on a discussion board I frequent. The question had something to do with why some Christians seem to have constant adversity and suffering in their lives while others seem to have it easy. It made me think about why we suffer and how we should pray in the midst of it.

Why do we suffer?
1) Suffering can be result of the natural outcome of sin: The inevitable consequence of sin is some kind of suffering whether emotional or physical. Since we are all sinners, we will eventually suffer. While believers will not face the final judgment for sin, the sowing and reaping principal laid out in Scripture still holds true.
2) Suffering can be the result of someone else's sin: Often we suffer because those around us sin, and through no fault of our own, trials come into our lives. Persecution falls into this category.
3) We suffer because our enemy attacks: Jesus said that our adversary was going about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. This is the example we find in the book of Job.
4) Suffering comes about so that we may know Christ better: For the believer, we suffer because it brings us closer to our Lord Jesus Christ. While a non-believer suffers with no relief, the believer has the promise that God will take his trials and turn them around for his good. He also tells us that when we fellowship in the sufferings of Christ, we come to know Him in a deeper way. That is why Paul the apostle said he rejoiced in his trials.

This brings us back to the topic of this discussion. How should we react in times of suffering? How do I react? And what is the role of prayer in suffering?

So often when I am faced with suffering, my first reaction (after trying to worm my way out of it) is to complain about it. "Poor me. See me suffering? My life is so awful." etc. My prayer life is not much different. It usually goes something like this, "Dear Lord, please show me what to do; please give me direction." While there is nothing wrong with asking God to give us direction, and we should, I have to admit that many times what I am really asking God is to show me the way out.

While praying in a recent situation where my family is under great suffering and pressure, the message of Philippians chapter 3 and 4 began to take on a new meaning, especially in regard to prayer. Chapter 3 teaches that our highest goal in life is to know Christ, chapter 4 gives us a practical application of that truth and teaches us how to pray.

6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (ESV)

When we come to God in prayer in the midst of suffering (and every time we pray), we are to put aside our anxiety. When the path in front of us looks the darkest, and we don't think we can bear it any longer, we must remind ourselves that God is sovereign, and He would never allow us to pass through anything (good or bad) without bring out something far better. (Romans 8:28).

We not only come with our prayers, i.e. asking God for something (like get me out of this), but we also come with supplications which have to do with petitioning God for our personal need. So often, we begin and finish our adversity prayers with God show me what to do, but we don't tell Him our real need. He is a loving Father, and His greatest desire is for our good, but ultimately fellowship with Him.

We also come to God praying with thanksgiving for what He is going to accomplish in our trial. It is an attitude of faith. We are expecting God to do exceedingly, abundantly above all we could ask or think. In my recent trials, God reminded me of this verse in Jeremiah 33:

3 Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not. (KJV)

In this thanksgiving prayer, we also realize that Christ has promised to be with us in our suffering. He does not let us go through our trials alone. He is there comforting us, guiding us and directing us, even when we don't realize it.

When we learn that prayer in adversity is more than crying out to God for relief, our prayers turn from "God get me out of this." to "Lord, I know you are in control of the circumstances. I know you allowed these things to happen, even though I don't understand your purposes. I need you, here is my problem (lay it out to Him, the neighbor stole the cash I have and I won't be able to feed my family, or my husband is dying with cancer, and he doesn't know you, etc.) Father, I thank you for what you are going to because you promised that you would good come out of this circumstance. Thank you are walking through this with me. Thank you that I will know my Lord better, etc."

As the book of James teaches, we often do not see our prayers answered because we "ask amiss so that we may consume it upon our lusts." In other words, we ask for the wrong things so that we can get what we want that will satisfy our fleshly desires. I would submit that while relief from pain is a natural desire, and it is not wrong to ask for relief, our prayer should be that God would deepen our walk with Him, and thanking Him that He will give us no more than we can endure.

God has been teaching me this lesson as I have been walking through the dark days He is taking me through. I am amazed (though I shouldn't be) at how quickly He has answered my prayers, and how good He has been to me in the midst of it. May it be the same for you.

Some of Life's Lessons

2008-04-17T21:07:00.006-05:00

To my dear readers, I apologize that I have had nothing to say for the last few weeks. The fact is, I feel as though God wanted to me keep my mouth shut for awhile, which is what I've done. Today, I am opening my mouth again, and I want to share with you a few of the ups and downs I've experienced and some of the surprises and blessings we've received from the Lord.

God provides: Like many others, my husband and I have struggled financially in the last year or so. We've watched the price of everything increase, while our income has been shrinking. At the same time, all our efforts to put a quick fix on the situation have failed. What have we learned? Whether rich or poor, we trust the Lord. God provides even when we cannot. It has been tough, but there has been a blessing in this--more than once we've seen God provide "not too early, and not too late, but just on time."

God protects: While driving down a two-lane country road last week, we crested a hill and came upon a pickup truck that was stopped halfway in our lane and halfway off the right side of the road. The driver's door was wide open, and the driver was hanging out trying to pick up something in the road. Seeing the left lane was completely open, I proceeded to pass the pick up truck. Just as I caught up to him, he popped back in the truck, slammed the door and began driving.

Next thing I know he is turning left in front of me. I had no where to go but into the side of his truck or off the left side of the road. I choose off the road. I slammed on my breaks and my van slid through grass about forty feet knocking down a road sign and bouncing over clumps of wet grass and weeds. The car finally stopped just before plunging down the hill straight into a fence where a herd of cows stood chewing their cud and staring at my van as if it were a space ship from Mars. Miraculously, I wasn't hurt, my children weren't hurt, and we drove away with nothing more than a small dent and long scratch on the front fender to remind us what had happened. The night before, my youngest daughter and I had specifically prayed for God's protection on that trip.

God Reigns: One of the worst parts of being a landlord is that from time to time I have to evict someone. The most recent eviction escalated into something just short of a nightmare. From the time the tenants moved in (not long ago) and up until, they have given me and my husband nothing but grief. While I won't go into circumstances, the whole thing has made me wonder if there is such a thing as justice left in this world. Last week when I was stressing over the fact that I have no control over the situation, the Lord reminded me that He is in control, not me. I have to let go. The blessing? While the law says I can't rent the space, the tenants who were causing all the grief have left, because the power company turned off the power.

When circumstances get out of hand, it is easy to try to take control and try to fix things ourselves. Somehow, we think we have the know how and power to put it all straight. The truth is, we are (I am) not in control. we don't call the shots; God does. When the going gets tough, we are not supposed to "get going". We are supposed to get on our knees and commit the circumstances to God, and then follow Him wherever He leads. The path He leads us down may not be the easiest one, either.

I will end with this thought: God is our Navigator. He knows where we are, and He knows how to get where we need to be. The smooth road to the other side the mountain might seem the easiest way to get around, but it ends in at a steep cliff that cannot be climbed. So instead God leads us on the rocky, narrow, mountain path that seems almost impossible to climb, but it is the only way to get to the other side of the mountain. We cannot control what the road will be like. We only know that God will lead us on the right road.

Proverbs 30:1-9

2008-03-30T07:24:00.005-05:00

Proverbs 30:1-9

1 The words of Agur son of Jakeh. The oracle. The man declares, I am weary, O God;I am weary, O God, and worn out.

2 Surely I am too stupid to be a man.I have not the understanding of a man.

3 I have not learned wisdom,nor have I knowledge of the Holy One.

4 Who has ascended to heaven and come down?Who has gathered the wind in his fists?Who has wrapped up the waters in a garment?Who has established all the ends of the earth?What is his name, and what is his son's name?Surely you know!
5 Every word of God proves true;he is a shield to those who take refuge in him.

6 Do not add to his words,lest he rebuke you and you be found a liar.
7 Two things I ask of you;deny them not to me before I die:

8 Remove far from me falsehood and lying;give me neither poverty nor riches;feed me with the food that is needful for me,

9 lest I be full and deny youand say, “Who is the Lord?”or lest I be poor and steal and profane the name of my God.

The Two-Space Rule

2008-03-25T07:59:00.004-05:00

Have you read the latest typing rule? Here it is for all you dear folks who have been typing since we had those old manual beasts. "Thou shalt not put more than one space between sentences." According to the newest typing manuals, the extra space between the sentence was all the fault of those nasty typing monsters from the dark ages. Therefore, we do not need the extra space any longer. What will they come up with next?

First it was the commas. "Thou mayest no longer place a comma after every place in a sentence where someone might normally breathe." Then "ain't" became a real word. When I was a student "Ain't ain't in the dictionary so we "ain't" supposed to use it." I could go on, but it might make you all nauseated. It is making me sick to my stomach.

This two-space rule is the last straw. How could they do this to me? I have been typing forever. I slaved over a manual typewriter learning all the rules, and finally mastered them. Do you know how painful it was to have to hit that awful space bar twice every time I came to the end of the sentence? I got sore thumbs doing it. I worked hard and suffered pain to develop the habit of hitting that space bar twice. I don't even think about it now. It's second nature. All of a sudden, they are telling me (and thousands of other typists, oh excuse me. I forgot, it's "keyboardists") that we have to retrain our fingers and our brains to not hit that space bar two times after a sentence? Don't they know we hit that space bar more times in a day than a chain smoker smokes cigarettes?

And what about our poor eyes? Take that little space out, and we suddenly have a jumbled mess. No wonder children are having reading problems. Every thing is so squished together on the pages, they can't tell where one sentence ends and the other begins.

Want to know what this new little rule is all about? Just like the comma rule and the "ain't" rule and all the other grammar rules that have changed in the last 30 years, it's all about selling textbooks. What money is there in printing the same old grammar rules year after year? If the rules never changed, I could get out my old Harbrace College Handbook and use it to teach my 12 year old all the grammar rules she will ever need to know. There's not a dime to be made in that. But what if they change the rules? Then, I'll have to go out and buy the most up-to-date edition of Harbrace, and someone will have made some money. It's a conspiracy.

Well, I have had enough. Here's how it stands with me. I will continue to call typists, typists, not keyboardists. A keyboardist is someone who plays a keyboard musical instrument such as a digital piano. I will not use the word "ain't". Sadly, I've already had to bow down to the comma rules, but maybe, just maybe I can hold out on the two-space rule. My poor brain can't handle the change.

Being Thankful

2008-03-24T15:59:00.002-05:00

Each Sunday morning after our musicians practice the songs we are going to sing in the worship service, we meet with the pastor, elders and others to pray. One of the "others" who always prays is an elderly woman from the nursing home next to our church.

Before continuing, let me explain something about this dear saint. We are not always sure where she is mentally. Sometimes she rambles on about things that make no sense. Other times, she is very aware. She arrives within minutes of the doors opening and always dons a bright red hat. She enjoys the music, the preaching and the fellowship, and we can always count on an "amen" or a "yes He did" during the sermons. One Sunday, she marched right up in the middle of the singing and joined the praise team.

Yesterday during our prayer time, as always, Amanda began to pray. Thank you, Lord, that we could get out of our beds this morning. Thank you for the piano players in all the churches everywhere. Thank you for ... (you fill in the blank). In short, Amanda is always thankful for something.

What is Amanda's life like? She lives in a smelly, old nursing home. Most of the people around her are senile. She doesn't have a lot of belongings, and who knows if she gets many visitors, if any. Frankly, her thankfulness puts me to shame.

Where did she get this thankful heart, I wonder? Why am I not this thankful? These thoughts overwhelmed me as I sat through the sermon freezing cold with the chills (I was coming down with some kind of flu bug) and later in the day when I was in bed so sick I could hardly move. Is there ever a time in my life when I should not be thankful? I can't think of one? Then why do I spend so much time complaining?

The truth is, I am not thankful, because I don't appreciate that even the breathe I breath is a gift from God. Sometimes I am so focused on the struggles in life that I forget the blessings, and I forget that God will turn the struggles into blessings if I just let Him.

Thank you, God, for dear Amanda, may you bless her.

The Community of Believers

2008-03-16T14:05:00.003-05:00

One of my favorite autobiographies as a teenager was By Searching (Isobel Kuhn). In this, her first of a two-part autobiography, she recounts how she was drawn to Christ through various circumstances in her life. She eventually came to Christ and finally went to China as a missionary. A common thread throughout Kuhn’s story is the unity and love she witnessed in the believers she met along the way. There were individuals and groups, but each one contributed to her life in a unique way. It was this love of among the believers that was instrumental in her conversion.

“Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him.”

I John 5:1 (ESV)

This “love for other believers” is a built-in result of being a child of God. For those of us who truly belong to God, we have a family of believers with whom we are more closely related than we sometimes want to admit.

At the Bible institute I attended, we met each weekday afternoon with a partner to pray for 30-45 minutes. One particular week, I was partnered off with a new student who had just arrived from Brazil. Ruth was Japanese by nationality, but grew up speaking Portuguese. When I met her, she could hardly speak English, and I did not know one word of Portuguese (or Japanese, her second language). Ruth loved the Lord, and I immediately felt a oneness with her. We did our best to communicate prayer requests, and then she asked me I minded if she prayed in Portuguese. For 45 minutes, I prayed with Ruth. She talked to the Lord in Portuguese, and I talked to the Lord in English. It was one of the most delightful prayer times of my Christian life. When we finished praying, I more fully understood “Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in midst of them.” (Matthew 18:20). Ruth and I met with our Lord. He knew the circumstances, and His Spirit communicated with our spirits that we were His children. Ruth and I became good friends, and eventually her English improved to where she was comfortable praying in English, but I don’t think either of us will forget that prayer first time.

Christians, the “invisible” church, those who truly belong to Christ, live all over the world. We have a connection with them and love for them, though we may not be able to communicate with them the first time we see them. It will be our joy one day to meet and fellowship with them and our Lord for eternity.

"And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name's sake, will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life." Matthew 19:29 (ESV)

I am looking forward to the day!

What Motivates You?

2008-03-13T08:32:00.008-05:00

Do you ever wonder how you got where you are? Some people, it seems, are very intentional about what they do. I can remember a 15-year old high school friend telling me, "I'm going to marry so-and-so." It didn't seem to matter that the young man she had set her eyes on was dating her best friend. Well, being a patient soul, she waited until he got tired of her friend and, eventually he became interested in her, and they did get married. They have been married for almost 30 years. I remember other friends telling me, "I'm going to be a preacher." or "I'm going to live in such and such a state.", and today, they are doing just that.

Me? I was going to be a music teacher and teach in a Christian school. Then, I was going to be doctor (I gave up that idea after one semester of premed chemistry.). I switched my major to Music Education. While I was studying music, I worked as a nurses' aid. I gave up the music temporarily to deal with health issues which led me to consider nursing. I applied and was accepted into nursing school. Before I could complete my preliminary nursing classes, I had a change of heart and instead went to a 2-year Bible institute after which I ended up in a language school in France. So many vocational hats have been on my head: missionary, legal secretary, executive assistant, church music director, choir director, wife, home school teacher, mother, and now, among other things, writer (to name some of them).

To someone whose focus is making a lot of money, or marrying the right person, or being the best engineer or the best teacher, my life is a failure, and when I look back at all this hopping around from one profession to another, I sometimes feel driven to despair. I wonder if I will ever know what I want to be when I grow up.

When I have hit the bottom and wallowed in my self pity for long enough, the Lord reminds me that there is something that has motivated me all these years. I remember what drove me and turned me away from one thing and on to another. It was this:

"But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death," Philippians 3:7-10 (ESV)

To someone who is driven by a desire to achieve something, a life like mine looks haphazard and chaotic. Yet in all of this, I see the sovereign hand of God guiding and ordering my steps that I might "win Christ". When I was in my late teens, I remember lying flat on my face on the floor of my bedroom begging God, "Please do not let me be like Judas." Judas was a fake, and I was fake. On the outside, everything looked ordered and settled. I had excellent grades in school, I was well on my way to becoming a fine musician and had already begun my training to be a music teacher. Inside, I was in turmoil, because I knew, deep down, that being a Christian had more to do with knowing Christ personally than it did with outward appearance.

God answered my cry to Him on the floor that night, and it wasn't long after that things began to change. God began to move me from one thing to the next, and with each new experience, He's taught me another aspect of knowing Him, and He has been the source of my joy all these years. So, I ask, "What motivates you?"

Joy in Serving Jesus

2008-03-09T17:57:00.005-05:00

Joy is an underlying theme throughout the Bible. Just get a concordance and look up the words, joy, rejoice, gladness, and similar words, and you find that joy and gladness are important to God. Hebrews 12:2 says that Jesus, "for the joy set before Him endured the cross." In Philippians 2 you see the apostle Paul pouring himself out for the for the Philippians and finding joy in that service.

Joy is listed as a fruit of the Spirit of God. Joy does not depend our our circumstances, but rises above them. We find joy in knowing God; we find joy in serving our brothers and sisters in Christ; we find joy in the hope that one day we will be with Christ.

As I have thought about joy all day today, I thought about how joy comes when we are selflessly loving and serving one another. Remember the old hymn by Oswald Chambers, "There is joy in serving Jesus?" Sing-songy as it is, I find truth in the words. Chambers talks about joy in darkest night and drawing on the power of Christ moment by moment.

Why is there joy in serving Jesus anyway? Joy, a gift that comes from Christ, comes when we finally learn that we can't live the Christian life, obey Christ, or serve others without the power of Christ. It also comes, when we lay down our selfishness and start serving our brothers and sisters in Christ, as Jesus Himself would have done. Jesus, our example, was constantly putting others and their needs above His own. He drew His power and strength from God as He poured out His time and energy for those around Him. Down to His last breath, He was pouring Himself out for others. His prize was His Bride, the Church, and His Church brings Him joy.

We too share in that joy when we look past the pain and exhaustion of service, and draw on the strength and power that is found in Christ.

There is joy in serving Jesus,
As I journey on my way,
Joy that fills the heart with praises,
Ev'ry hour and ev'ry day.
There is joy, joy, Joy in serving Jesus,

Joy that throbs within my heart;
Ev'ry moment, ev'ry hour,
As I draw upon His pow'r,
There is joy, joy, Joy that never shall depart.

There is joy in serving Jesus,
Joy that triumphs over pain;
Fills my soul with heaven's music,
Till I join the glad refrain.

There is joy in serving Jesus,
As I walk alone with God;
'Tis the joy of Christ, my Saviour,
Who the path of suff'ring trod.

There is joy in serving Jesus,
Joy amid the darkest night,
For I've learned the wondrous secret,
And I'm walking in the light.

-OSWALD J. SMITH.

How Important is Your Worldview?

2008-03-03T10:54:00.002-05:00

"Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect." Romans 12:2 (ESV)

What is your worldview? Through what do you filter your thinking? How do you interpret the events and happenings around you? When you make a decision about your future such as starting a new job, moving to a new location or buying a house what criteria do you use? Whether we realize it or not, the way we make these and frankly all the decisions we make in life is based on our worldview. Let's look at taking on a new job. What influences your decision? Do you consider the working environment and how that will affect your Christian walk? Do you think about how it will impact your family? Or do you merely think about how much money you will make? What about moving to a new location? Do you think about the public schools? The taxes? The neighborhood? Or do you look to see if there is a good church where you and your family can participate?

How does worldview impact decisions? Worldview has to do what you perceive to be important in life. If you have a materialistic viewpoint on the world, you will make decisions based solely on your ability to acquire things. In other words, when you choose a job, money will be the most important thing. If you have a Christian viewpoint on the world, money might be an important factor in your decision, but it will not be the primary reason. You will take into consideration how the job will affect your family, your relationship to the Lord, etc.

Much of the above is very obvious to most Christians. What is not always as easy to detect is how your world viewpoint affects the smaller parts of life. For instance, how you treat others, how you dress, how you talk, how you interpret the news and local politics.

Scripture teaches that we are not to be conformed to the world, but be transformed by the renewing of our minds. (I find it interesting that we are not told to go out and change our appearance.) I believe that this is speaking about our worldview. When we interpret the world from the Scriptural perspective, when we learn to see things the way God sees them, we begin to look at life differently. Money, power and position don't seem to have the same appeal as they once had. More than just wanting to do God's will and obey Him, we begin to long to see things the way He does.

How does this renewal take place? It is the work of God's Spirit in our hearts, but we learn about God's thinking from His Word. As we study the Scriptures, we see how God sees the world. We learn His viewpoint, and it becomes our viewpoint. Our responsibility, then, is to spend time in God's Word, memorize it, study it, and make it our own. The Spirit of God will bring to our mind His truth as we face life's decisions and live out our lives in this world.

“May the Mind of Christ, My Savior”

May the mind of Christ, my Savior, live in me from day to day,
By His love and pow’r controlling all I do and say.

May the Word of God dwell richly in my heart from hour to hour,
So that all may see I triumph only thro’ His pow’r.

May the peace of God my Father rule my life in everything,
That I may be calm to comfort sick and sorrowing.

May the love of Jesus fill me as the waters fill the sea;
Him exalting, self abasing, this is victory.

May I run the race before me, strong and brave to face the foe,
Looking only unto Jesus as I onward go.

May His beauty rest upon me as I seek the lost to win;
And may they forget the channel, seeing only Him.

Kate B. Wilkinson

Sing the Psalms

2008-02-29T11:02:00.004-05:00

In the last few days, I have been engaged in a discussion board thread with some individuals regarding the commands in the Bible about singing. The general debate (which comes up regularly with these folks) is over whether God commands us to only sing the Psalms (the hymnal of the Bible) or whether "psalms, hymns and spiritual songs" in Ephesians really means three different categories of songs. Personally, it seems clear to me that God is commanding us to sing all sorts of songs in our worship, and our music is to teach and admonish.

While I believe my exclusive psalmody brothers and sisters are missing out on an entire world of wonderful hymns and spiritual songs that teach and admonish, I also believe that those on my side of the debate often forget about the command to sing psalms. Since I have the privilege of choosing the music we sing in our Sunday morning worship, I am seeking to remedy this problem by choosing at least one Psalm or portion of a Psalm to sing every week along with the other music we sing.

Clearly, the Psalms are worth singing, because they are God's inspired words. He gave them to us to sing. That reason alone would be enough reason to sing the Psalms, but there are other reasons as well. The Psalms give us a model of how to sing to God, both our praise and our lament. John Calvin, the reformer, was so persuaded of the importance of singing the Psalms that he had the entire book of Psalms put into metrical settings and hired musicians to write tunes for them. "Old Hundreth" the tune most of us know as "Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow" is the tune written by Louis Bourgeois for his setting of Psalm 100.

I am currently compiling a list of contemporary settings of the Psalms and am looking forward to trying some these with our congregation. I encourage you to join me in reading through the Psalms and singing them Psalms. After all, God commands that we do as much.

Amazing Grace (My Chains are Gone) Chris Tomlin

2008-02-28T22:01:00.001-05:00

Here is a link to a video I have enjoyed a lot lately. Hope you enjoy it, too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXV6HJxUebg&feature=related

"I Mean What I Say"

2008-02-14T08:41:00.004-05:00

"I mean it!" Have you ever said that to someone? I say it to my children all the time. "I mean it!" is usually preceded by "Clean your room.", "Do your homework." or "Turn off the TV." The "I mean it!" is also preceded by a failure on the part of my children to respond immediately to what I just said. They know that if they don't respond to "I mean it!", there will be another response from me that they don't like, so most of the time, it does the trick.

As I was thinking about my last post on grumbling and gossipping, I thought about how many times God has commanded us to do certain things such as "Do all things without grumbling or disputing.", or "Pray without ceasing." or "In everything give thanks." How many times have I simply brushed those commands aside as not that important or thought, "I can do that later." Unlike my children who get punished very quickly if they don't obey me right away, we do not always see the immediate consequences of our failing to disobey God's commands, but there are consequences, both immediate and future.

When my children fail to clean their rooms or do their homework or continue watching TV, the long range consequences are actually far worse than the immediate punishment they might receive from me. If they do not clean their rooms or do their homework, things will soon pile up to the point where they cannot handle it. In the case of watching TV, well, it would take an entire article to cover those consequences. The consequences of our failure to obey God's commands, especially what I will term (for want of a better term) "daily maintenance" commands, are similar. When we do not do as God commands, the consequences are far reaching.

Sadly, as my children often view my "commands" as bothersome, we often do the same to God's commands. "What difference does it make," we think, "if I just say one bad thing about my fellow brother in Christ." Or, we tell ourselves that if we let out our complaint, we will feel better. What we fail to understand is that God gave us those commands for our good and especially for our continued fellowship with Him. When tell our children to do their homework, we know the benefits they will glean from studying, otherwise, we would not bother to tell them to do it. In the same way, God tells us not to gossip and grumble, because He knows the harm that will come from doing it and the personal fellowship with Him that will be broken as a result. When God tells us to do something, He means it!

"For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome." (I John 5:3, ESV)

No Grumbling, Faultfinding or Complaining Allowed

2008-02-13T09:28:00.003-05:00

Recently, I talked with someone who knows many of the people with whom I associated in a church we once attended. "Did so and so still attend the church?" I asked. Though I had asked the question, because I was genuinely interested in what my old friends were up to these days, I was quickly given more information than I really wanted, and before long, I was thick into a gossip session. I won't paint myself as the innocent party, because I was a willing participant.

The passage of Scripture we are focusing on this week at church is Philippians 2:14-17, verses 14-16 say: Do all things without grumbling or questioning, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain.

How ironic that I should get myself into a gossip fest this week of all times.

"Do all things without grumbling or questioning." The KJV translates the word questioning as disputing, but the Amplified Bible says, "without grumbling and faultfinding and complaining." Our little discussion about what had gone on in the church was a perfect example of grumbling, faultfinding and complaining. Things had not gone the way we had hoped in that church, so we began to find something wrong with the people involved. Pointing the finger at another person is at the heart of gossip. It causes the gossipers to take their eyes off their own weaknesses to focus on the weaknesses of others.

In addition to tarnishing the character of others, this kind of talk is damaging to the church. It causes division among the members of the body of Christ. Someone points out a fault in one person and tells it to someone else. It strikes a chord with that person, so they spread the information with their own private experience or twist on it. Soon, people are taking sides and then the fights start. People get upset and leave. Far worse, the testimony of Christ is damaged. We are to shine as lights in a crooked and perverse generation. When we become divided because of our wagging tongues , our testimony for Christ is ruined. Instead of reflecting the bright light of Christ, we add to the wickedness around us.

When our gossip fest came to end, I felt horrible inside. At first, I was not even aware what had caused this awful feeling, but it wasn't long before the Spirit of God gently showed me what was at the heart of my guilt. Not only had I listened as someone badmouthed a fellow believer, I hadn't done anything to stop it. All it would have taken was a gentle word on my part and the conversation could have been turned to something more edifying. With a grieving heart, I repented. May God grant me never to forget how precious His children are to Him, and may I never again cause their character to be tarnished. For smearing mud on their character is like smearing mud on our Savior.

Wealth or Poverty?

2008-02-06T19:55:00.001-05:00

Now there is great gain in godliness with contentment, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs. (I Timothy 6:6-10, ESV)

A recent financial crisis in our family made me take another look at what the scripture has to say about wealth. Though my study was no where near exhaustive, I found a gem today while I was reading in I Timothy 6. The above verses, often used by those who say it is a godly thing to be poor, speak of the danger of loving money and acquiring too much wealth. After all, the love of money is the root of all evil. That is what the scripture says, right? Don't worry. I do agree that the love of money is the root of all evil. But I don't believe that the focus in this passage is on those who love money too much. This passage is about being content with what God has given us. If we have food and clothing, we should be content. Everything else (really) is just extra.

I remember a lovely family in a church I used to attend. They had many children and were living in a mobile home on one income that fluctuated. Though the mother never said anything about it to anyone, it was obvious that she felt bothered about what people in the church thought of her and her family. She had a good reason to feel that way. Many of the families in the church who were well to do looked down on her and in some cases austrosized her family, even though the children were always clean, neat and well-behaved. To these folks, the family was struggling financially, so it had to be the fault of the father who was not providing. In the case of this family, it could not have been further from the truth. The father was honest, hard working, and loyal to the Lord and the church. The children were always clothed and fed. The mother was a godly woman who loved the Lord and committed to praying daily for individuals in the church.

As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life. (I Timothy 6:17-19, ESV)

Again, this is really about contentment. The wealthy are to be content with what God has given them, because God "richly provides us with everything to enjoy." If He has blessed us in abundance of things, then we are not to think ourselves better for the having, but enjoy what God has given and bless others with our bounty.

Right in the middle of these two passages on the poor and rich, Paul stops for a moment and says: "Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses." Our focus then, is not to be on whether we are well off or poor, but on living a godly life and laying hold on things eternal. When we keep our eyes on Jesus, we are able to be content in what ever situation we find ourselves. Paul sums up this thought in another way in Philippians 4:11-13:

For I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

The secret to contement in any situation is "I can do all things through Him (Christ) who strengthens me. We find power to be content in Christ.

I end this with a word I heard on the radio the other day (I do not know the name of the preacher who said this). "God allows some Christians to be well off so that they can learn to give and share with others, and He allows others to be poor so that they can show the world what it is like to have an abundant life when you have nothing."

Moral Relativism

2008-02-01T20:51:00.000-05:00

After my last post on Relativism vs. Christianity, I began to do delve a bit deeper in to the subject. White pure Relativism has largely been discredited by most philosophers and thinkers, various forms of relativism have become part of everyday thinking in today's society. What I described in my last post on the subject would be classified as moral relativism, that is "a belief that there are no moral absolutes, that circumstances can change morals, that God's Word does not have the final say". It is this brand of the philosophy that is so dangerous to our society and to our churches.

In my last post, I talked about the dangers of moral relativism and its affect on our society in general. To recap, relativism rears its ugly head when 1) we redefine terminology to change circumstances in our favor, and 2) when we make moral decisions based on the final outcome of the circumstance rather than on established truth or morals (situational ethics). The way that separation of church and state has been redefined to the point where it no longer means what the founding fathers intended would be an example of redefining terminology. Killing a baby via abortion so that a teenager girl who didn't want to raise a child on her own would be an example of situational ethics. Throughout history, societies who have allowed their moral base to be corrupted by forms of moral relativism have crumbled to the ground.

Not long ago, a neighbor gave my child an old 1st grade health book which was used in our local public schools a couple of years ago. I thumbed through the book expecting to find in its pages chapters on personal hygiene, proper diet and exercise. While those topics were covered in the book, I was astonished to find chapters on family, illegal drugs, and general character. While these topics might seem harmless at first, reading carefully showed me how the minds of our children are being shaped to accept moral relativism. "Family" was not defined as a father, mother, and perhaps brothers and sisters. It was defined as "a group of people who live together". Drugs and character were handled in a similar fashion. While I would not go so far as to accuse the writers of this text (or any other for that matter) of purposely tricking our children into thinking in a particular way, I will say that because the writers of these texts already practice moral relativism as a way of life, it leaks into their writing in the same way that my beliefs in Christ and the infallibility of God's Word leak into my writing.

Moral relativism is all around us from a judge redefining the definitions of legal terms to suit his beliefs to a school teacher spouting off what's in the latest textbook to the teenage girl having an abortion. Our society has embraced moral relativism because it has been fed it from infancy.
We and our children are bombarded daily with relativism. It is in the school texts, in the media, in books. This was not always the case. From the earliest years of the colonization of this country well into the 1800s, everyone knew and read the Bible. It's influence can be seen in the early school texts and in the writings of the founding fathers. In short, the Bible shaped the minds of America. Gradually, as new philosophies crept in, the Scriptures were replaced, and by the early 1960s, it was banned completely from the public schools. Today, though the Bible remains on the best seller list, most people have not read or studied it, and there is an effort by some to remove any trace of its influence from American history.

While a move back to the Bible cannot change things without the power of God's Spirit working in the minds and hearts of men, it is part of the equation. What really has happened in our country is that we have departed from God Himself. Our eyes have been focused an amassing wealthy and enjoying ourselves. Relativism fits in nicely with these goals, since discarding the teachings of Scripture allows people to go for wealth and pleasure with no one to tell them it's wrong. The solution plain and simple is prayer and repentance.

Relativism vs. Christianity

2008-01-25T13:47:00.001-05:00

Sancify them in the truth; your word is truth. (John 17:17, ESV)

In the past few days, I have been wrestling over a way to express something that has bothered me for a long time. Once again this morning, I attempted to write my ideas down and quit out of frustration. Why? Because the topic about which I have been thinking cannot completely be covered on this short blog, and I am no where near ready to write a book about it. I can not get it off my mind, so I will write about it anyway. What is that topic? 'Relativism and how it affects the way we view the world", or "Christian worldview vs. Relativism."

What is relativism anyway? The American Heritage Dictionary says: "A theory, especially in ethics or aesthetics, that conceptions of truth and moral values are not absolute but are relative to the persons or groups holding them." The American Heritage New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy (third edition) says: "The doctrine that no ideas or beliefs are universally true but that all are, instead, “relative” — that is, their validity depends on the circumstances in which they are applied. "

It is obvious from these definitions that Relativism flies in the face of true Christianity, because true Christianity is based on absolute truth. We believe in right and wrong, black and white, true and false. God is truth. God's Word is truth. God is absolute; He does not change; His word does not change; He does not even falter. To the believer, it matters not what he perceives to be true; it does not matter what the world perceives to be true; what matters is what God says. All statements, all beliefs, all theories, hypotheses and ideas are measured against God and His Word. If there is error, it will always be on the side of humans.

Relativism denies the sovereignty of God and makes truth nothing more than what a man or woman perceives it to be. If I say the sky is purple, then it is purple, because I believe it to be purple. If I take something that does not belong to me, it is stealing only if I believe it to be stealing. When this is taken to a further degree, and it has been in recent years, laws no longer mean what they once meant. Documents such as the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights only mean what lawyers and judges determine they mean. Rather than going back to the original intent of the writers of these documents, judges and lawyers (and well-meaning politicians) read them through their own eyes. The result is that in many cases, the laws are interpreted to mean exactly the opposite of what the original writers intended.

Sadly, relativism has crept into our churches. It might start with issues regarding rules and guidelines set down by the denomination. The guidelines state one thing, but the leadership in the church (for whatever reason) wants do something slightly different. Because leadership does not want to be accused of not following procedure, they search said documents for some way around the guidelines. When questioned by members of the congregation, the reply goes something like this: "Well, that's what it says, but I think it can also mean this." In the last ten years or so, instances like this have made it all the way to the top courts of churches. Church leaders are squabbling over the meanings of well-established doctrines and guidelines. Many of these doctrines have been held to by the church for centuries.

The next downward step, and it's the worst, is when we begin to redefine God's Word to mean what we want it to mean. We look at some passage of Scripture that is particularly hard to accept, and instead of believing that God meant what He said, we begin to try to "worm" our way around it by redefining the terms. Would it not be better to simply tell God, "This is difficult for me to grasp and to accept. I believe You are Truth. I believe You are right. Please give me grace to trust and obey You, even though it is difficult for me."? It would be easier, if it were not for our sinful hearts.

Prone to wander, Lord I feel it.

Prone to leave the God I love.

Here's my heart O take and seal it

Seal it for Thy courts above.

Praying to a "god" Who Does Not Save

2008-01-20T16:00:00.000-05:00

For thus says the Lord,who created the heavens (he is God!), who formed the earth and made it (he established it; he did not create it empty, he formed it to be inhabited!): “I am the Lord, and there is no other. I did not speak in secret, in a land of darkness; I did not say to the offspring of Jacob, ‘Seek me in vain.’ I the Lord speak the truth; I declare what is right.
“Assemble yourselves and come; draw near together, you survivors of the nations! They have no knowledge who carry about their wooden idols,

and keep on praying to a god that cannot save.

Isaiah 45:18-20 (ESV)

The sermon this morning was on Philippians 2:9-11, the great passage that speaks of the exaltation of Jesus as Lord. The pastor referred to Isaiah 45 from which Paul quotes in Philippians 2:10. As he was reading through this passage, vs. 20 jumped out at me: "They have no knowledge who carry about their wooden idols, and keep on praying to a god that cannot save. "

So often, when I read through a passage of Scripture that speaks of God's sovereignty, I am tempted to see God as the Almighty who is boasting of His greatness. To see God in this light is to view Him from the perspective of a fallen creature who does not understand Who God is. The fact is God is neither boasting nor acting in the slightest bit arrogant. He is stating the way things are.

The truth is our God, the Almighty, the great I Am, is so far above other creatures and idols that it is almost laughable that we would ever set up anything in the place of God. Yet we all do. For the heathen, their idols are made of wood and stone. They come daily to the shrines that they have set up to offer gifts and prayers in hopes that they will have better lives. For the more "Christianized" nations, our idols are not necessarily made of wood and stone, and we do not bow to them daily, yet we worship them just as much as any heathen. For some, it is money. They rush out any buy lottery tickets praying and hoping that the god of money will grant them prosperity, or they stash it away in the bank hoping it will multiply and give them more. Others erect yet more subtile idols of the heart: their children, their jobs, their careers. They place all their hopes and dreams for the future in these idols secretly praying that all they hope for will be fulfilled in these. For the believer, we often forgot our God and set up the same idols in our hearts. (Happily, His Spirit will not let them stay there for long.)

These gods to whom people pray, cannot save, nor will they ever save. They have been placed under the sovereignty of Jesus who is the Only Savior. Whether these idols are visible to the eye or hidden in the heart of man, they are powerless to do anything for us. So why do we set our hearts on gods who will not save? The answer is found in the same verse: "They have no knowledge" It is interesting to note the the Hebrew "yada" used here means the type of knowledge gained by experience. It is not merely an intellectual understanding of God. When we have no experiential knowledge of God, we seek to fill that emptiness by worshipping and praying to gods who cannot save. That is the plight of those who know not God.

As believers, those of us who have a knowledge of God based on our experience of His salvation, we can fall into the trap of running back to those dead idols instead of laying ourselves at His feet. The cure for this idolatry is daily give ourselves back to Him. To offer our prayers to Him continually, for He is the only God Who can and does save us.

Christ is All I Need

2008-01-14T20:46:00.000-05:00

Today, I got into a lengthy discussion with someone who has been struggling over Christianity for a some time. At one point, she said to me, "My heart is screaming so loud, I can't hear the thoughts in my head, and my thoughts are screaming so loud, my heart can't hear what it is saying." In other words, she felt torn between what her heart knows is right and what logic is telling her about what she sees around her in professing Christians. What she was seeing is the inconsistency of believers. These people, she said, try to look like Christians, but they are arrogant and self-centered. Their lives do not match up with what her heart tells her is a true Christian.

I can completely agree with her. What is often peddled as Christianity, especially in the part of the country where I live, is nothing more than haughtiness with a nice dress or suit on. These people (and sadly, I am guilty of what I am speaking) prance around in their perfect dress and hair spouting Bible verses and going to church twice a week with little or no regard for anyone but themselves. Their chief end in life is not to glorify God, but to protect their image. They look nice on the outside, but they won't lift a finger to help a poor soul on the street. They shun any believer who hasn't achieved the level of perfection that they have. They are unwilling to admit the slightest fault in their own character. It's no wonder my friend is turned off by Christianity. It's not what she sees of Christ in the Scripture.

Our talk continued and seemed to get absolutely no where until I found myself saying to her, Would Jesus act like those people? No, He was God, and yet He got down on His hands and knees and washed the disciples feet. Do you admire that? Do you want to be like Him? "Yes," she said, "I want to be like that." Then I told her that she need look no further for true Christianity. For true Christians are "little Christs". They follow Him with all their heart. They long to be like Him, for He is our example. He was not proud or arrogant. He is God. He was glorified in Heaven, and yet, He stooped to the lowliest position to serve others. If that is what you want to be, then put your faith in Him. Her face lit up. The confusion left.

Christ is all that we need, too. When things become muddled, and we don't know what to believe or where to turn, we need only look to Him. The little chorus we used to sing when I was a teenager comes to mind:

Christ is all I need, Christ is all I need
All, all, I need
He was crucified, for me He died on Calvary
And He loves me so, that is why I know
Christ is all I need.

New Plumbing

2008-01-12T16:00:00.001-05:00

The New Sink!

Finally Finished?

2008-01-12T15:06:00.000-05:00

After three long months of having my house torn up for remodeling, the work was finally completed last weekend. As much as I love remodeling, I love being finished even more, and this remodeling project came out as good or better than we expected.

Monday was a long day, and I had planned to start putting things away in the new music room. I walked down the hallway to my daughter's room to put something away and felt my sock getting wet from the carpet just outside the bathroom door. I felt around with my foot. It was a big wet spot. "Giiiirrls! Who spilled.." I stopped before I could say anything more. No one had used the shower recently. No one had let the puppy loose in the house. In fact, no one had been home long enough to do much of anything, let alone spill water all over the carpet.

I bent over felt around on the floor. The carpet seemed to be wetter the closer I came to the bathroom. I checked out the bathroom. There was a little water on the floor near the vanity, but not more than a few little spots. My first thought was water coming up from under the pipes that run under the house and up to the bathroom. I immediately thought about having to pull up the carpet and repairing a water-damaged floor. My heart sunk. (Please, not that!) I opened the door to the vanity and started to take things out. Everything was soaked. Then I saw it--a steady drip, drip, drip coming from the upper part of the cold water pipe. At least it wasn't coming from underneath the floor. I turned off both the hot and cold (just to be safe) and called my husband who was working late. Then I got my daughter to clean up the remaining mess under the sink.

As soon as my husband got home, he went into the bathroom to assess the situation. The cold water was leaking from the faucet. The verdict? The faucets needed to be replaced, the vanity was water damaged, the back wall was wet, but the floor seemed to be intact, and the carpet would probably dry out fine. We already knew that the sink needed to be replaced, so my husband decided to rip the whole mess out and start over again. (Secretly, I think he likes to have a project.)

So we are back at it again. The whole bathroom, except for the tub, is getting a complete makeover. As I write, my husband is laying new flooring, we are waiting for the new sink, (which had to be special ordered because of the odd space), and we are sharing the bathroom with our daughters. (Just like the old days! At least we don' t have to use an outhouse.) When will it be finished? Who knows, but I'm sure either something else will fall apart or my husband will have cooked up another project when this one is finished. I don't mind. Before long, I'll have a completely new house without having to move, and I'm making a lot of new friends at Lowes and Home Depot.

Left to Our Own Devices...

2008-01-11T11:40:00.000-05:00

While I was checking my email messages this morning, I heard a crashing sound coming from the kitchen. Since I knew my children were still in their bedrooms and my husband had already left for work, I decided I had better check on the situation. When I walked into the kitchen, there, sitting quietly on the floor, were my two dogs and the cat looking innocently up at me. A kitchen knife was on the floor as well as a number of items which once sat on my table. My beautiful red table cloth, still on the table from Christmas, was hanging halfway to the floor, and a number of other items were sitting precariously near the edge of the table. I picked up the sharp knife (I'm still not sure how they managed to get that off the kitchen counter.), straightened the table cloth, put the items back on the table and took the dogs outside to their kennel. The cat sauntered off as if she had nothing to do with anything. (I'm sure she had a lot to do with the incident.)

With order established, I returned to my emails and pondered what had happened. Did the puppy get bored and decide to pull on the table cloth? Was the cat on the counter checking out the cake my daughter baked a few days ago? Did Hunter, our big dog, try to shoo the cat off and get caught in the table cloth? Hunter isn't inclined to fight with the cat, but he doesn't tolerate the cat on the furniture any more than I do. And how did that knife get all the way across the room? Well, I suppose I'll never know what happened, but I do know that my dogs and the cat were only behaving according to their natures. The cat, a curious creature, wants to know what is on the counter, the dog can't stand to see the cat get into anything he can't get into, and the puppy likes to pull on anything that moves or might move.

In any case, the entire incident got me thinking about an article in one of the December 2007 issues of Time magazine I read recently. According to scientists, our propensity for evil goes all the way down to our DNA--surprise, surprise. They confirmed what God has said about us all along. We sin because we are born with a sin gene, better known as Adam's curse or our sin nature. It's part of our DNA. So, our plight is that we will do what we are born to do, sin. Just like my animals who act out of their nature when left unattended, we will act according to our sinful nature without the power of Christ controlling us.

For the unbeliever, it's always going to be out of control, for there is nothing but a marred conscience and a sense of duty to keep him from sinning. What he/she suppresses on the outside will eventually come out in attitude and motive. For the believer, there is hope, because of Christ's work and the power of the Holy Spirit. We have been given a new nature, and though we still sin, the desire to sin has been taken a way and replaced with the desire to do what pleases God. When confronted with temptation, we have the desire and the power of the Holy Spirit to choose what is right. So when we are left alone with ourselves, like my animals were left alone in the kitchen, things need not run amuck. We may call on Christ to deliver us and give us the strength to live in righteousness, even in private.

Seeing clearly

2008-01-10T10:17:00.000-05:00

The other morning while we were in a rush to get out the door to go somewhere (a usual occurrence at my house), I noticed that I wasn't seeing things too clearly, so I went on a search for my glasses. I looked in the two places where they should have been: the top of my dresser or on the counter next to the bathroom sink. They weren't there. I extended my search and checked out the counter in front of the coffee pot, the coffee table, and the top of my jewelry box. By this time, the girls were already hurrying out to the car. I glanced at the kitchen clock. I was now two minutes late leaving. With no traffic, I might make it to my destination on time. The search continued, and I was in a panic. I reached up to push the hair out of my eyes--I was wearing my glasses!

When do you know it's time for a new pair of glasses? When you are wearing them, and you still can't see clearly. Three months ago, I had my regular eye exam, and the eye doctor wrote me a prescription for new bifocals. The upper half of my glasses is just fine, but the bifocal needs adjusting. Not only that, the lenses on my glasses were smudged terribly. And where is that prescription for new glasses? It is still right where I put it when the doctor wrote it for me, in the zipper pocket of my purse. No wonder I couldn't see clearly.

As Christians, we have been given a new heart and a new perspective. Though we are still in our old bodies and still possess the sin nature, we have been given the Spirit of God who enables us see things clearly, as they truly are, not as they appear to be. Unlike my glasses which need updating periodically, because my eyes change, the Spirit of God does not change, He is all that we will ever need to see things clearly in this world. And, the Spirit of God cannot be lost. He is always with us.

However, we sin in our lives can allow the Spirit's work in our lives to become cloudy and dirty so that we cannot see things as they are. Not only are we seeing things blurry, but if we do not allow the Spirit of God to keep our hearts clean, we end up not seeing things at all. It's as if we had blinders over our eyes.

II Corinthians 3:12-16 (ESV) explains that spiritual blindness, and it tells us how to see clearly.

Since we have such a hope, we are very bold, not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face so that the Israelites might not gaze at the outcome of what was being brought to an end. But their minds were hardened. For to this day, when they read the old covenant, that same veil remains unlifted, because only through Christ is it taken away. Yes, to this day whenever Moses is read a veil lies over their hearts. But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

When we bold Christ the blinders come off, and we are transformed. Unlike my glasses, a temporary fix, this solution is permanent. When we behold the Lord, we are transformed from the inside out. Not only do we see more clearly, but we also become more like Him.

Thoughts on Prayer

2008-01-09T23:05:00.001-05:00

Pray without ceasing (I Thessalonians 5:17)

Sadly, I have to admit there was a time in my life when I didn't think it was necessary to pray about anything, let alone without ceasing. I believed that since God is in charge, and He will take care of me, why pray? Yet the Scriptures are full of commands to pray and ask for our needs and the needs of others. While I was doing a search for the exact reference of this well-known scripture verse, I was amazed at how many references there are to prayer in the New Testament. Prayer is a big deal, and I have come to believe that to be true.

It's all well and good to say we should pray and even better to say, "I believe I should pray." It's another thing to put that into practice. Sometimes I find that prayer flows easily from my heart. Other times, it is not so apparent. Lately, prayer has been a struggle for me, and today I began to ponder why that is the case. Earlier in the day, a problem arose and after I had contemplated it for awhile, the thought came to me that instead of trying to sort it out myself, I should pray. The next thought, however, was "I don't want to pray about that" and so I, to my own detriment, I went on until another situation arose, and I thought about praying. Again, came that voice, but this time the words were more clear, "I don't need to pray about that." I then realized the real problem is not that I didn't want to pray. The truth is I didn't think I needed to pray. To put it bluntly, I didn't think I needed God's help.

The cure for this pride, of course, is repentance. Sometimes, the only way I can find repentance for this heinous sin is to tell God the truth about my condition and ask for grace to change. And what is the truth? The truth is that I (we all) can not even take a breath without Him. He is my (our) very life, and prayer reminds me (us) of our deep need of God. So I preach to myself as I share with you--pray without ceasing.

The New Year - New Dreams

2008-01-04T12:41:00.001-05:00

One of my readers recently emailed me and reminded me that my last post was November 20, 2007. Yikes! That was a while ago. Where did the time disappear? It got lost in Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years. For those of you who receive my annual Christmas card and letter, I apologize. The Christmas letter (along with the unaddressed Christmas cards) is still sitting on my desk. What happened?

As you may recall, my husband launched our family into another building project in early October. As of today, I put the final coat of paint on some trim in the new music room, and my part of the project will be complete (other than moving a few things around). In addition to our usual holiday parties, church activities and family gatherings, my family (mostly my husband) managed to complete our remodeling project. Where did we find the time? Let's see, it was somewhere between 10:00 p.m. and 4:00 a.m. every night. On January 2, I got up, made the coffee, walked the dogs, washed the dishes and collapsed in a heap. I slept the rest of the day and the next night away. It's 4 days into the new year, and I finally feel ready to face it.

I'm not one for new year's resolutions, but I do like to take time at the beginning of the year to reflect on where I've been and dream about where I am going. Last year was one of incredible ups and downs. I lost a dear friend. I gained two church families. I lost a job. I gained numerous little jobs. My dreams of becoming a writer went from pecking at my blog page to being accepted into a writing program which I hope to start some time in May of this year. My love for teaching was rekindled, and for the first time in years, I am actually doing what I originally went to college to do--teach. Finally, the Lord became more precious to me in 2007. Seeing God faithfully provide for our family and take us through stormy times deepened my faith and made me love Him and long for Heaven all the more.

Yesterday, while conversing with my daughter, I was reminded of two passages of Scripture which have been the driving force in my life since I was a teenager:

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. "(Matthew 7:7,8, ESV)

"But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead."
(Philippians 3:7-11, ESV)

I was once told by a pastor that the words ask, seek, and knock in the above verses actually mean, keep asking, keep seeking, and keep knocking. What have I asked, sought and knocked for? I have wanted to know Christ, to understand who He is and what He means in my life. I have sought to understand what it means to count all things as rubbish to gain Christ. After years of asking and seeking and knocking, I am beginning to understand what Paul meant in these verses.

So what are my dreams for 2008? Ultimately, they are the same as they have been for years: to know Christ and to make Him known to others. All that I say and do should point to that goal. If not, it is mere rubbish. The words of this ancient poem (now set to music) say it well:

Christ above me, Christ beside me, Christ within me ever guiding;
Christ behind me, Christ before, Christ, my love, my life, my Lord.
Bread of life from heaven, lover of my soul;
Peace of God so ever present. I surrender my control to

Christ above me, Christ beside me, Christ within me ever guiding;

Christ behind me, Christ before, Christ, my love, my life, my Lord.
Mercy everlasting, tenderness divine;
Word of God so ever healing.
I surrender heart and mind to

Christ above me, Christ beside me, Christ within me ever guiding;

Christ behind me, Christ before, Christ, my love, my life, my Lord.

Loved By God

2007-11-20T10:19:00.000-05:00

On the bottom of my signature page on a Christian web forum I frequent are the words of Jesus, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” Luke 10:27 (ESV). They sum up our responsibility to God and to those who live around us. If you have read this blog at all, you know that these words of Jesus are important to me. Our relationship to God should be to love Him will all of our beings. However, there is a another side to our relationship to God that I usually overlook.

As I was waking up this morning and contemplating what I needed to do for the day, I thought of someone to whom I was very close who went home to be the with Lord. Usually when I think of lost loved ones, I become sad. I feel the emptiness that is left, and I find myself wishing they would come back to life and be with me again. This time, however, I was not overcome with sadness. Instead, I remembered how much I was loved. I felt a sense of joy come over me thinking about how pleasant it was to be loved and appreciated.

If you have ever been in love, you know what I'm talking about. Just knowing that someone has singled you out, that they love you and care for you changes everything. You feel more confident, your step is lighter, you smile, you begin to take care about your behavior and your appearance. Many people in love even look younger.

Do you know that God loves you? To a believer that question almost seems silly. Of course, God loves us. He sent His Son to die for us. Most of us have little trouble accepting that truth. But, do you really believe that God loves you? Do I really believe that God loves me?

As I thought about how good it was to be loved, I thought, "God loves me more than that." Then, sadly, I doubted it. Does He really love me more than that? Knowing the depth of my sin, knowing my unfaithfulness to Him, knowing how quick I am to stray away from Him, knowing how easily I am turned to the pleasures and material things in this world, I find it difficult to believe. But, yes, God really does love me that much and far more than I can imagine."

If God had just sent Jesus to die on the cross for our sins, raised Him from the dead and fulfilled justice on our behalf that would have proven His love, but He went much further. He took on the role as our loving Husband (we are the Bride of Christ) and cares for us and loves us moment by moment. It wasn't just a one time thing. When God chose us, it was for an eternal relationship. He set His love on us and that love is everlasting. To understand that, to know that is what makes life worth living. The hymn writer, George Wade Robinson, put it well in this hymn.

Loved with everlasting love, led by grace that love to know;
Gracious Spirit from above, Thou hast taught me it is so!
O this full and perfect peace! O this transport all divine!
In a love which cannot cease, I am His, and He is mine.

Heav’n above is softer blue, Earth around is sweeter green!
Something lives in every hue Christless eyes have never seen;
Birds with gladder songs o’erflow, flowers with deeper beauties shine,
Since I know, as now I know, I am His, and He is mine.

Things that once were wild alarms cannot now disturb my rest;
Closed in everlasting arms, pillowed on the loving breast.
O to lie forever here, doubt and care and self resign,
While He whispers in my ear, I am His, and He is mine.

His forever, only His; Who the Lord and me shall part?
Ah, with what a rest of bliss Christ can fill the loving heart!
Heav’n and earth may fade and flee, firstborn light in gloom decline;
But while God and I shall be, I am His, and He is mine.

Righteousness Exalts a Nation

2007-11-04T07:30:00.000-05:00

Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people. (Proverbs 14: 34 ESV)

My oldest daughter is studying the Reformation in history, so lately, I've been giving a lot of thought to the connections between the Reformation and the founding of our country.

Historians mark October 31, 1517 as the beginning of the Reformation. Martin Luther, a catholic monk who had come to understand justification by faith through his study of the Scriptures, took action when he saw the abuses of the Roman Catholic Church, particularly the sale of indulgences, by nailing 95 thesis to the door of the Wittenburg Church. These theses, grievances he had with the Catholic church, were copied down, printed and spread throughout Germany and beyond. These ideas sparked the flames which burned throughout Europe and eventually spread to the Americas.

In the early 1530s, a young lawyer and scholar named Jean Calvin, heard the message of justification by faith and converted to Christianity. Calvin furthered the spread of the Gospel by teaching the Scriptures and writing down the doctrines of the Christian faith in his Institutes of the Christian Religion. In his Institutes, Calvin not only spelled out Christian doctrine, he also outlined a biblical view of government upon which the United States government was eventually founded.

Calvin taught separation of church and state. Lest there be any confusion about what Calvin meant by "separation of church and state", let me explain as I understand it. Calvin believed that the church and state were two separate entities and their areas of jurisdiction did not cross. There are few who would disagree with Calvin on this point. However, the other part of Calvin's teaching was this: Both the church and the state are responsible to uphold righteousness within their jurisdictions and each will be held responsible before God for their actions. In other words, the state has a jurisdiction that covers what goes on within the community, but it does not have the right to decide what goes on inside the church. The church is responsible for governing what goes on within the church, but not in the community. In both areas, leaders are expected to uphold God's laws.

These are the ideas that were carried across the Atlantic Ocean and found their way into the U.S. Constitution and bill of rights. Calvin's model of government was also the model used to form our system of government with its three branches and laws based on Scripture. What most do not understand is that neither Calvin nor the founders of the U.S. government ever intended for the state to be secular. The belief from the beginning was that the state would be ruled by godly men with impeccable characters who would rule the state as a godly elders would rule their church.

It is interesting to read George Washington's farewell address. I have copied two paragraphs of it below. As you read it, note his agreement with the views of Calvin.

Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens. The mere politician, equally with the pious man, ought to respect and to cherish them. A volume could not trace all their connections with private and public felicity. Let it simply be asked: Where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths which are the instruments of investigation in courts of justice ? And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.

It is substantially true that virtue or morality is a necessary spring of popular government. The rule, indeed, extends with more or less force to every species of free government. Who that is a sincere friend to it can look with indifference upon attempts to shake the foundation of the fabric?

What Calvin and Washington said about governments and righteousness are in line with Proverbs 14:34 "Righteousness exalts a nation,but sin is a reproach to any people."

Out the Window

2007-10-26T18:49:00.000-05:00

We always seem to be in the middle of a building project at my house. First, it was the new deck on the front of the house (We had to have front porch; so why not a deck?). A few years later, we decided to build a chicken coop. My husband dubbed the project the "Chicken Hilton" and we christened it by housing it with 35 chickens.

A couple of years later when my second child was born, my husband decided that we needed more space, so he decided to add on an extra room. (I thought it was a good idea, too.) We added a very large room which became our office. Before long, the room began shrinking, and my husband suggested that we needed to add on again. This time, it was a two-story addition.

We hired someone to build the outer shell of a two-story barn like structure situated about ten feet from the house. My husband completed the inside. I helped out by painting and staining the walls and ceiling. Even my daughters pitched in by helping to paint the outside. The plan all along was to connect the "barn" to the house, but almost a year went by before we decided to finish the project.

About three weeks ago, my husband came home and announced that we now had enough money to complete phase II of the "barn" building project. Phase II is the ten-foot hallway/entryway connecting the "barn" to the house. As usual, the building design changed about 10 tens in the middle of construction, but as it stands today, we have a ten-foot by eight-foot wide hallway/entryway connecting our "barn" to the house. The outside structure of the hallway is complete, but there are few things on the inside that aren't complete. For one thing, the hallway ends at a window. The only way to get from the inside of the house to the "barn" is to crawl through the window or go outside and enter through the outside door. My youngest loves it.

The first morning after my husband finished the outside structure, my youngest came running into our room when the sun came up. "Mom, I'm going to go watch the sun come up, then I'm going to crawl through the window, and then, I'm going to eat my breakfast."

This phenomenon will only last a few more days. As soon as the electrical wiring is completely installed, my husband will cut a proper doorway, and we won't be crawling through the window anymore. To my daughters (and the cat who is enjoying the windowsill), that will be a sad day.

"You might be a redneck if" my husband said, "you have to crawl through a window to get into another room in your house."

Walk As Jesus Walked

2007-10-24T13:03:00.000-05:00

One of my readers recently remarked that I haven't posted anything in awhile. I guess the old saying, "Time flies when you're having fun" might be appropriate here--or maybe not. In any case, now that there's a break in the "fun", it's time that I got back to blogging.

On Sunday evenings, I attend a little Bible study group. We are currently studying the book of I John. While reading through chapter two this past Sunday I was struck by a little phrase in chapter 2:6 "whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked." (ESV) It was the "walk in the same way in which He walked" that got my attention.

What does it mean to walk in the same way in which Jesus walked? Obviously, it is not saying that we should find out what kind of shoes Jesus wore, how long his stride was and whether He strolled or hurried from place to place when He walked. It means, of course, that we should live the way He did. But even the expression, "live the way He did" can be confusing. Does it mean that we should sell everything we have, live the life of an itinerant preacher and never marry? A close look at the Scriptures reveals that this is not the case either, though there are some who are called to live that lifestyle.

So what exactly does it mean to "walk in the same way in which Jesus walked" and "live the way He did"? Verse 4 and 5 of that same chapter give us a clue, "Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected." (ESV)

What are His commandments? Jesus told us in Matthew 22:37-40 “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” (ESV) Here we see the key to understanding what John was saying when He told us to walk in the same manner that Jesus walked. We are to love the Lord our God with all of our heart, soul, and mind, and we are love our neighbor as ourselves.

Loving God and loving our neighbor have more to do with our heart attitude than with a specific list of dos and dont's. If we love love God, we will not do things that displease Him. If we love our neighbors as ourselves, we will treat them the way we want to be treated. I find it interesting that in the verses which follow, John discusses these two points in detail. He tells us to "love our brother" and that we are not to love the world (which is the same as not loving God with all of our heart, soul, and mind).

When we look at the life of Christ, we see that in all ways, He followed His own commands. He was intent on doing the will of His Father, and He lived His life strictly for others. The final act of His life on earth (before the resurrection) was to give His life as a sacrifice for others in obedience to the will of His Father. In this manner, we are to imitate Christ loving God our Father with all of our beings and loving our neighbors as ourselves.

Yikes!

2007-10-04T20:12:00.000-05:00

Yikes! I reread my last blog and found so many mistakes. My apologies to my readers for my failure to edit more carefully.

The Elusive Water Snake

2007-09-27T19:39:00.000-05:00

We live about five miles outside a small town in South Carolina's upstate. That puts us near enough to civilization to obtain all the modern conveniences like shopping malls, grocery stores and fast food restaurants, but too far for good cell phone coverage, city trash pick up and public transportation. There are advantages to living in the countryside. One of them, as I've mentioned before on this blog is the wildlife, our pond, the open field, the woods, the river and the mountain views.

We now have 57 chickens which need daily tending. Our chicken coops, for many reasons (particularly the noise and the odor), are located on the other end of our property. Once or twice a day (depending on the weather), we have to go and collect eggs, check the feeders and waters and open or close the coops. Tonight, my husband volunteered me for chicken coop duty. It was a beautiful night, so I didn't mind. I grabbed the flashlight and headed down through woods and across the field to visit the chickens.

As I often do when I make this trek after dark, I stop by the pond to listen to the frogs and look for the water snake that lives in our pond. As I flashed the light on the water, I so no sign of the snake. I turned the light off for a moment and listened. The water stirred. It was probably a frog. The song of the tree frogs made it sound as if the trees were singing. I clicked the flashlight back on and scanned the water. Some minnows, startled by the light woke from their quiet slumber and wiggled a bit. I could see the outline of a large tadpole resting on the bottom pond. The snake was still no where to be seen, but I imagined that it's eyes were on me. Turning the flashlight off again, I turned and headed up the hill up through the woods and up to our house.

As I walked, I wondered what it must have been like to have lived in the mountains years ago when there was no electricity. Did they go out at night and stand in the moonlight as I was doing? Did they carry a candle or a lantern to seen in the dark? Did the hear the tree frogs and the coyotes? Though it is marred and scarred by sin, the world we live in is beautiful. God spoke people through his creation then, and He does today.

How Do You Become A Christian?

2007-09-26T20:10:00.000-05:00

25 At that time Jesus declared, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; 26 yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. 27 All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. 28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:25-30)

Jesus tells us how to become a Christian, one of His disciples, in these verses. Jesus said, "no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him." If anyone knows God, it is because God allows Himself to be revealed first. The next thing that Jesus said was this "Come unto me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." We will not come to Jesus unless we feel a need to come to Him. He is there for those who are burdened with the weight of their sinfulness, who know their spiritual depravity, the depth of their sin. Those who are burdened with that sin can come to Jesus and find forgiveness for their sin, and rest for their souls. "Come unto Me" he said. "Lay down the heavy burden of your sin and allow Me to give you My burden, because my burden is light.

Next Jesus said, "Learn from Me for I am gentle and lowly of heart." It is not the proud who can be disciples of Jesus. The one who comes to Him must realize that they know nothing, and therefore must learn from Him. He is God, after all. To learn from Him is to admit that we are nothing more than His fallen creatures who need to be restored and forgiven and taught.

To become a Christian, therefore, is not to take on a new religion. It is to abandon oneself to Jesus to become a learner of Him, to find forgiveness of sins from Him, and to take on His yoke, His burden. It is in this that we find real rest for our sin stricken souls. Do you long to know His rest? Do you long to become His disciple? Then bow your knees to Him, your Creator. Ask Him to be your Master, your Guide, your Teacher. He will lead you into all Truth and you will find rest for your weary soul.

Who Is Jesus Christ?

2007-09-22T18:24:00.001-05:00

There is no way that I could even begin to describe or tell who Jesus is that would do Him justice, so I will use the words of the Apostle John who knew Jesus personally and who wrote about Him in His gospel.

1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life, [1] and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. 15 (John bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.’”) 16 And from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. 17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God; the only God, [4] who is at the Father's side, [5] he has made him known.

John tells us that Jesus is God. He was in the beginning with God, and He created all things. He is Life. He is Light. He is equal to God the Father, and He is holy as God is holy. Yet John also tells us that Jesus became flesh and dwelt among us. He became a man like we are, yet He was without sin. He is full of grace and truth. Jesus has made God know to us and He is now seated at the Father's right hand. To know Jesus is to know God.

The New Testament teaches us that Jesus was fully God and fully man. We have a recording of much of His work in the Gospels. Scripture also teaches us that Jesus was perfect. In Him there was no blemish or spot. While on this earth, He lived a perfect life and fulfilled the Law of Moses. When He had completed all the work that God the Father had Him to accomplish, He was sent to a cross to die to be a sacrifice for the sins of His people. On that cross, He carried the burden, the load, the shame, the guilt and the ugliness of our sin. He took death so that His own would not have to experience eternal death. On the third day, after He had laid dead in a tomb, He was raised again to life and is now seated with God the Father in Heaven. He intercedes for His own. There is much more that I could say. He is the Alpha, the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the One who was, and is and is to come, the Almighty. He loves His own.

This Jesus is the One whom the disciples followed, and it is This One, Jesus, Whom the people of Antioch said the disciples were like. Jesus was holy, compassionate, kind, bold to speak the truth, always loving that which is good and right and always hating sin and what it does to His own and world He created. He is the One who wept over Jerusalem longing that they might come to Him and be cared for, though they would not.

To be a Christian is to follow and to love Jesus and all that He represents. It is to belong to Him. It is to be like Him. Next time I will tell you how to come to know this wonderful Jesus, Who is Lord of all the earth.

How Does One Become A Christian?

2007-09-15T18:43:00.000-05:00

As I was perusing Helium.com today looking for a topic about which I could write, I came across "How Does One Become A Christian?" There was a time when I would have simply answered the question with three steps: 1) You must acknowledge that you are a sinner, 2) You must decide to repent of your sin and 3) you must turn to Jesus Christ and decide to follow Him alone. These things would still be at least part of my answer, but I don't want to answer the question just yet. Rather, I would like to focus on the question itself and what it implies.

The question "How does one become a Christian?" implies that you are something else right now. What are you? Are you a Buddhist or a Muslim or a Jew or an Atheist or and Agnostic? Do you hold to any belief system? The word "become" implies some kind of a change from what you were. Dictionary.com says "to become" means to undergo a change or development. So to become a Christian, you will have to change from what you are into something else.

What is Christian? The word "Christian" means a lot of things to a lot of people. To be a Christian can mean being from the part of the world that is largely Christian. So in that case to become a Christian you become a citizen of a particular "Christian" country. It can mean being born in a family of people who claim to be Christian. So in that case, you would already be a Christian and wouldn't need to convert or change. It can also mean to belong to one of the many Christian denominations, such as Presbyterian, Catholic, Baptist, Lutheran or Methodist. In which case, to become a Christian would simply mean finding out which branch of Christianity you want to be a part of and join up according to their guidelines. Some say, being a Christian can mean accepting Christian principles and living by them. And still others say that becoming a Christian is acknowledging you are a sinner, repenting of your sin and turning to Christ.

There is one more meaning of Christian which I have not yet addressed, and I believe that it is the true biblical answer. Now, I'm not saying that there are not real Christians in any or all of the categories mentioned above. I am simply saying that the groups themselves do not necessarily represent what true Christianity is. So what is a real Christian?

According to the book of Acts in the Bible, Acts 11:26, the disciples were first called Christians at Antioch. This is actually the first time the word is mentioned in the Bible. From this passage we learn two things about being a Christian. 1) A Christian is a disciple. A disciple is a follower of Jesus Christ. The word "disciple" comes from the Greek word "mathetes" and it means a learner or one who follows and adheres to the teachings of someone. In this case, the disciples were following Christ. 2) The word "Christian" literally means, "little Christ". So we learn that the disciples were so much like Christ in their adherence to His teachings and the example of their lives that they were called "little Christs." So becoming a real Christian is becoming so much like Jesus Christ, that people could say about you that you are a "little Christ".

The next question we have to ask is this? Who is Jesus Christ? And I'll get to that in my next post.

Lucky Charms?

2007-09-06T12:02:00.000-05:00

Less than 24 hours ago I cleared my junk email box, yet this morning my email junk box was bursting at the seams with a whopping 124 pieces of garbage advertising. This did not include, of course, the handful of junk mail advertisements that got past my spam filters and wound up in my regular box. Delete, delete, delete....I dare not delete mindlessly, however, because every so often a good piece of email ends up in the junk box. What never ceases to amaze me is that email earmarked for my trash seems to increase at an exponential rate. The other thing that amazes me is that most, if not all, of the junk is advertising for something free. My favorite piece today was "Get two free boxes of Lucky Charms mailed to your doorstep." Lucky Charms? If they wanted my attention, why didn't they offer me something I really want like a year's supply of gourmet cheese or better yet offering to pay my mortgage payments for the next year?

The problem with all these free offers is there is always a catch. My favorites are the ones that offer you a free laptop or airline tickets to London...if you complete the required product deals. You click on page after page of product offers. If you take the bait, you will have your email address added to 30 more junk email lists for more free offers. If you think you are smart, you can bypass all that only to learn after clicking about 50 pages of advertisements that the only way to get the free laptop or the free airline tickets is to purchase a $500 satellite TV/sound system package (installation and shipping is extra), join 2 book clubs, 3 dvd clubs and buy 6 ink cartridge refills for your printer. Whose definition of free are they using?

While I sat there deleting and deleting this morning, it occurred to me that in our society, we are caught up in acquiring things. If we can get it free, the better. We are like vultures after a good piece of road kill. If it's free, we're there grabbing as fast as we can. A lot of times, it doesn't matter that it is something as little and useless (in my opinion) as a box of Lucky Charms cereal. We get excited about the fact that it's free.

What we fail to realize is that nothing is really free. Someone had to pay for the box of Lucky Charms, and it's probably you. It wouldn't surprise me if the fine print reads, "Just mail in $10 shipping and handling and we'll mail you 2 free boxes of Lucky Charms." It probably cost the company $2 to mail you the cereal, $3 for the boxes of cereal (which are probably out of date). Their profit? $5. Not to mention now they have your home address, phone number and email address which they will share with 100 other advertising friends who will be more than happy to fill up your spam email box for the next 10 years.

I learned my lesson when I agreed to sign up for a free laptop, because I was going to be part of a product test panel. So far, I have product tested 4 pieces of useless computer software (and believe me, they were useless), I gained 2 computer viruses, I got stuck in 2 cd clubs, spent over $200 on cds (to fill my requirement), got added to who knows how many junk email lists, and I still don't have the laptop, because I refuse to purchase a new $500 Dish Satellite system. I've learned my lesson. Now I only go to my spam email box to look for a stray email from a friend, and of course to delete, delete, delete.

A Smidgen of Omnipotence?

2007-09-01T11:01:00.000-05:00

After writing my last post, I sent a message to the author of the article I quoted and asked if he would be willing to elaborate further on his comment "we can fully affirm the reality of hell, but it's not up to us to decide who goes there.Indeed, I wonder if it is really up to God as well. Yes, being the all powerful one, and the Almighty judge, he is the one who consigns souls to hell, but it is also true that we choose Hell." I did this to give him an opportunity to explain himself and, because I really wanted to know if he meant what he said. I asked "Doesn't that diminish the character of God to say that it's not really up to Him? Is He not more involved in the affairs of men than that?

Here is a part of his response: "Does this take control from God too much? I don't think so because I believe in free will. Maybe my view on this is too speculative, but I have always understood free will to be a little smidgen of his omnipotence that God gives each one of us when he creates us in his image. We really can do what we want."

We can really do what we want? Free will is a "a little smidgen of his omnipotence that God gives each one of us when he creates us in his image"? Where is that in the Scriptures? God is omnipotent, all-powerful. To say that we have some omnipotence like God would be to say that we are nothing more than little gods. This, of course, goes against all the teachings of Scripture. God is not a man, and we are not God. We are His creatures, and we cannot do what really want. A better way to state that would be to say we can only really do what is in our nature to do, and without Christ, our nature is to sin.

The idea of being able to do what we really want and that we somehow share in the omnipotence of God is no different from what the serpent promised Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. He told them if they ate of the fruit (did what they really wanted to do), they would be like God, knowing good and evil. They ate of the fruit, and what they got was a sinful nature which has been passed on to all of us.

The true sin nature in man wants nothing more than to do what it wants to do. It is in rebellion against God. It imagines that it somehow possesses godlike qualities. The fact is that we can only do what Christ empowers us to do. Any power or goodness we have, comes directly from Him.

God's Call

2007-08-28T15:52:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I read an article on a blog page about the existence of hell and Universalism. “Universalism says that everyone will be saved.” This leads, of course, to the idea that there is no hell. I could not agree more with the author of the article when he said that there really is a hell and that there might even be some religious people in hell. As I read further down in the article, I was shocked at the following statement:

“…we can fully affirm the reality of hell, but it's not up to us to decide who goes there. Indeed, I wonder if it is really up to God as well. Yes, being the all powerful one, and the Almighty judge, he is the one who consigns souls to hell, but it is also true that we choose Hell.

The author went on to discuss how we make the choice to go to Heaven or Hell, it really isn't up to God. It was the statement, “I wonder if it is really up to God as well.” That jumped out at me. In all fairness to the writer, he was making a point about our choice to follow God or not (a point to which I beg to differ). He was not making a comment about the character of God. What his statement did do, however, was bring his argument to the logical conclusion. That is, if we actually have a choice in the matter, if we can really choose to be saved (and it is not the working of Spirit of God in our hearts first), then God is merely sitting up in Heaven waiting for us to make up our minds. When we have decided what we want, then God will pass judgment.

In my mind, this idea lessens the greatness and character of our God, and it also diminishes the work of Jesus on the cross. If all a person has to do is chose to go to Heaven, then what is the point in the atonement? If we could change ourselves and decide to be good, then there would have been no need for Christ to die on the cross, and God is just sitting up there in Heaven with His hands tied behind His back waiting patiently.

I’m sorry, but I don’t see God that way. He is the Almighty Father, the Maker of Heaven and Earth, the I Am, the Way, the Truth and the Life, the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. He is intimately involved in the affairs of men, both His children and the lost. When He calls, we come. When His Spirit breathes on us, we answer, and that is why we chose Him at all. He is not sitting up in Heaven wringing His hands hoping that some will chose to come to Him, or even, as the writer suggested that God is just waiting around to consign souls to hell.

The Spirit of God through the apostle Paul has this to say to us (note the highlighted words):

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. (Ephesians 1:3-10)

Salvation was His idea and His plan from beginning to end, even down to His choosing us. I am thankful that it was He who called me, and not me who chose Him, because I would never had come to Him otherwise.

God's Water Park

2007-08-25T15:15:00.000-05:00

We live on a small foothill on the edge of the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. We have a view of the mountains on a clear day in the winter. I can see the woodlands out my front window and out my back window. A small mountain river runs along the edge of our property, and at night, we enjoy listening to the frog chorus that puts on a concert around our pond. Even so, I tend to forget how close I am to the mountains.

Yesterday afternoon was hot and sticky, and I decided to take my children swimming somewhere. We voted for a place about which I knew nothing, but that my neighbors had promised was a great place to go. We were not disappointed. We took the back road out to Scenic Highway 11 and headed toward the lake. To our left was a turnoff that had always intrigued me. For years, there was nothing there but an unmarked dirt road. Since I had seen men with fishing poles heading in that direction, I assumed it was a place to go trout fishing and thought nothing more about it. These days, the turnoff is well-marked and a gravel parking area has replaced the muddy drive. We parked the car. The girls grabbed their towels, and we headed down a steep, narrow path through the woods.

As we neared the bottom of the trail, the sound of running water got louder. To my surprise, and my children's delight, we were face to face with a child's dream, a 100-foot rock water slide! The river bed was smooth and hard, and the water rushed down into a series of pools at the bottom. Two young boys were sliding down the rock carried along by a smooth stream of water which narrowed into a rushing waterfall that landed them into the first pool.

Delighted, the girls ran to the bottom of the slide to investigate the pools. The first pool appeared to be no more than 3 feet deep at any point. The second pool had a huge rock face on one side and a sandy beach on the other side. The water was deep enough along the rock face side for the children to grab a rope, climb up the rock and jump in. I sat down on a rock and watched the children as they explored the area, played in the water, and finally brave the long decent of the water slide. For two hours, they alternated between the pools and the water slide.

Eventually, I rolled up my pant legs and waded in the shallower pool jumping from rock to rock and braving the narrow "bridge" that was made by a railroad tie someone had put there. It was cool by the water side. The sound of the rushing water and beauty of the trees, the huge rocks jutting out the mountainside and the movement of the small fish swimming in the water had a calming affect on me. I didn't want to leave, and neither did the girls. Even the 2-foot water snake we saw in the second pool did not persuade the girls to get out of the water.

As I sat there watching the children play, I thought of the expensive water parks I had seen in various places where we have traveled. The fees to get into these places are high, the noise level is beyond what I can tolerate. There is rarely any shade, and the children come home smelling of chlorine. Here practically in my back yard is a child's dream come true: two pools, rocks to jump off, a 100-foot water slide, a place to warm yourself in the sun, a little bit of beach, and places to explore nature. Truly, there is nothing new under the sun, and God always does a better job than man when it comes to thinking up fun things to do.

Commit Your Works To the Lord

2007-08-23T13:52:00.000-05:00

Well, we have completed almost an entire week on our new schedule, and to my delight, this schedule-hating woman is actually loving it. We scheduled our school in the morning hours and our other activities in the afternoon. So far, my children are not rebelling (too much), and we are finding time to do the things we want to do.

Along these lines, I had a chat with a friend of mine yesterday who had her son at my home for a piano lesson. We discussed plans, organizing and making the most of what God has given us. Before she left, she slipped a piece of paper into my hands. "This has completely changed things for me in the last week." she said to me. "I won't say anymore. Just have a look at it." I was curious as to what was written on the paper, but I was in a hurry to get ready for my next student so I gave it a quick glance and tossed the paper on the kitchen table.

I finished up the few things I needed to do before leaving the house to go teach more lessons, got the girls in the car, and headed for the other side of town to the home of 3 of my students. After their lessons were completed, we set off the 2 miles to the home of 2 more of my students. By the time we were finished, it was dinner time, and I was tired. We made it home and quickly prepared a meal. My husband arrived in time to eat and take off with a friend to help someone install and set up computer. We cleaned up the dinner mess, and I got the girls settled down doing something productive. Finally I had some time to sit down and carefully read what was on the slip of paper. It had been in the back of my mind all afternoon.

Here is what it said:

"Pro 16:1-3 Commit 1) morning prayer. Make your list of things to do, but give them to the Lord because of Isaiah 55:8, 9"

OK, but what did that mean? Based on our conversation, I deciphered the message to mean this:

Proverbs 16:1-3 says this:

1 The plans of the heart belong to man,

but the answer of the tongue is from the Lord.

2 All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes,

but the Lord weighs the spirit.

3 Commit your work to the Lord,

and your plans will be established.

because of

Isaiah 55:8,9 says this:

8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts,

neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.

9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth,

so are my ways higher than your ways

and my thoughts than your thoughts.

Because our thoughts are not God's thoughts, and our ways are not like His ways, we must commit all our work to Him and trust Him to establish our plans. It is all right to make plans and organize our lives, but we must realize that we have no ability in ourselves to set our feet in the right direction. So, at the beginning of the day, we tell the Lord what we have in mind for the day, and we ask Him what He has in mind. Realizing that we are not able to make right choices, we trust Him to change those plans which are not from Him and establish those that are His. Commit Your Works to the Lord, and plans will be established.

God Does Not Overwhelm Us

2007-08-21T08:05:00.000-05:00

I have been slowly working my way through Dr. Dan B. Allender's book The Healing Path. In his book, he discusses emotional pain and suffering and how God can work through that pain to bring us real healing in our souls.

In his chapter entitled "Ambivalence and the Loss of Love", Dr. Allender says: "If life is predictable, lacks complexity and ambiguity, and requires little of us, then we are bored. If life requires us to enter too deeply into the mystery and muck of life, then we feel overwhelmed." (pg. 101) As I thought about his comments and the truth about the circumstances of life, I was reminded that God never gives us more than we can handle.

Last evening, my neighbor and friend, a Christian woman, came to me to ask me to type her resume. Together we have prayed for some time that God would provide a job for her, and now she has been offered a job and simply needs to walk through the hoops of submitting a resume and having an interview. It was a real answer to prayer.

As we talked, she shared with me her struggles and her concern that she has no income other than her ex-husband's alimony check which is now 20 days late. She can't pay her power bills, she can't purchase her blood pressure medicine, and she has to rely on the meager $200 in food stamps that she receives once a month. She has been out of work for a long time and has no transportation. She could take her ex-husband to court, but it would cost her $680 just to pay the court costs. To her that is like a million dollars. My husband and I have helped her all that we can, and thankfully, her brother and son have looked after her. She said to me, "God is always on time. He's never late. So why is there no money for me to pay my rent and my power bill? I will have a job soon, but that won't help me if my power gets cut off in the meantime."

I didn't have a clear cut answer for my friend. I couldn't promise her that God would send her alimony check tomorrow, nor could I promise that her power would not be cut off. What I could promise her was that God never wastes our experiences. His faithful children have been through far worse, and He will never leave us or forsake us. God does not overwhelm His children, and He never gives us more than He will gives us grace to handle. We need merely to look to Him. God hears before we call, and answers before we ask. When the circumstances have played out, God will receive the glory, and we will know the joy of sharing in His love amidst the trials.

The familiar Psalm 23:4 says this, "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for Thou art with me. Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort me." God did not promise to deliver us from the valley of the shadow of death, that is, the trials and difficulties and sufferings of life. He did promise to be with us and to comfort us. In that lies our hope.

Musicians and Worship

2007-08-20T16:44:00.000-05:00

My new church, a PCA (Presbyterian Church of America), will have its first Sunday morning worship service on October 7. Being the only trained church musician in the core group, I have been asked to oversee our music for worship. After years of experience, I am more frightened than I was the day I was first asked to play a hymn for a Sunday School class.

It is not the playing of instruments that frightens me. Nor is it the challenge of choosing the correct music for worship. My fear comes from the knowledge that I, and the musicians involved are all sinners. Like all musicians, we have our likes and our dislikes. We often feel uncomfortable singing or playing music that doesn't suit our personality or our "style". We are perfectionists. We tend to be easily critical, and we often forget to love and accept those who might make us look bad if the make a mistake.

Scripture is very clear when it talks about what the attitude of our heart should be when we sing.

16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. 17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. Colossians 3:16, 17

18 And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, 19 addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, 20 giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, 21 submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ. Ephesians 5:18-21

This is what our music and our attitudes should look like:

1. It should be based on the Word of Christ, i.e. doctrinally sound.
2. We are to sing with the thankfulness in our hearts to the Lord.
3. We are to be filled with the Spirit
4. We are to submit to one another out of reverence to Christ.

It is this submitting to one another out of reverence to Christ that is the most difficult for musicians. I find it interesting that the first thing the apostle Paul tells us in Ephesians is that we are to be filled with the Spirit. If we are filled with the Spirit, we will submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.

When we keep our eyes on Christ, no matter what our weaknesses, we will find our strength in Him. He is the one that will keep us from falling, and He is the one Who will keep me on track.

More Red Tape

2007-08-18T15:11:00.000-05:00

About a week and a half ago, I drove my husband to the INS (Immigration and Naturalization Service) to see what we would have to do to straighten out his paperwork problems and get his citizenship. Having spend hours reading immigration law until I was red-eyed and exhausted, I felt well equipped to help my husband deal with the immigration officer. Or so I thought.

Visiting the INS these days is not like it once was. In the past, you dropped in during business hours, took a number and waited forever until it was your turn to be turned down. You can still do this if you want, but the more efficient way to do it these days is to get online and make an appointment. We made an appointment.

When we arrived at INS, the parking lot was empty. I was beginning to wonder if were there on the right day. The "Open" sign was on the door so we risked it. Warning signs with the red circle and red line down the middle were posted on the windows and door: No smoking, no guns, no cell phones, no electronic devices, no dogs, no knives, no wives (just kidding). We emptied our pockets of forbidden belongings and walked in. We were greeted by a guard in full uniform. He was standing behind a desk which had a sign up sheet and an electronic scanner. A rubber mat was on the floor next to the desk. I scanned the small room. The walls were painted in a dull government grey. To the right were two doors, the men's and the ladies restrooms. Three rows of chairs were lined up in the center of the room. To the left were two bank teller type windows. There was another door on the back wall that must have led to some offices. "Where do you sit down for your appointment?" I wondered.

My husband signed in. "Empty your pockets" the guard ordered to my husband. He emptied his pockets while I signed in. "If you don't want to get arrested," he said to my husband, "You better get rid of that pocket knife." My husband handed me his keys and Swiss army knife which I took the car. When I re-entered, the guard was using an electronic scanner to scan my husband. I was next. I tossed my keys on the table; I was glad I had not brought my purse into the building. "Over here on the mat" the guard ordered. I stood there as he used his electronic scanner on me. "Lift your feet." He scanned the bottom of my flat sandals. "What's he going to find in those things?"

Before the guard was finished scanning my shoes, my husband was called over to a window. I joined him. As if she had heard our story a million times, she walked over to a pile of forms on the shelf behind her. "In any case," she said as she handed my husband two lengthy forms, "You are going to have to go apply for a Canadian birth certificate and get a Canadian passport. When you have those, you need to either start the process for obtaining a new green card, or apply for citizenship. When you have a receipt proving you have done that. Bring the birth certificate, the passport and the receipt to us, and we will issue you a temporary green card. Then you can take that to the DMV to renew your driver's license."

"So you've heard this story before?" I asked. "Well, not exactly like this. I will admit you have an unusual case, but we have a lot of this kind of problem."

My husband took the papers and handed them to me. We were both dumbfounded. We thanked the woman, signed out and left. "Well that was an experience," I said to my husband as we drove away. "I wonder how we are going to pay for all this?" Secretly, I wondered how we were going to complete all that paperwork before my husband's driver's license expired.

As my husband and I sat across from each other eating about 30 minutes later, I said, "I have been asking you to get your citizenship, your mother has been telling you to get your citizenship, and now God and the government are telling you to get your citizenship." We only hope and pray the process goes smoothly.

A Schedule? Help!!!

2007-08-15T09:54:00.000-05:00

This morning my husband handed me a small stack of papers. "Here," he said, "Maybe this will help you get organized." I looked at the papers in front of me--What I Need To Accomplish This Week. Yikes, is it that bad? Well, the truth is it's not that bad, but it has been that bad, and progress is slow.

I have an aversion to scheduling and planning. It goes back to my days at Bob Jones University when the only way I could accomplish anything was to plan every minute of my week. I had an enormous of amount of work to do, and I didn't know how I would do it all. Someone suggested making a schedule, so I got out a blank 4X6 index card and drew lines to make 7 columns, one for each day of the week. Then I drew lines the other way leaving enough boxes to cover all my waking hours, 5:30 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. (We were required to be in bed sleeping the other hours of the day.) I filled in all my classes, my meal times, my music practice times, my work hours, my study time, required meetings and music rehearsals. I even scheduled a time to do my laundry. When I was finished, I had 3 free hours on Friday afternoon. I stuck to this schedule like clockwork. After a semester of this kind of living, I had a physical breakdown and had to drop out of school. Needless to say, I've had a deep-seated hatred for schedules ever since.

This hatred for scheduling has sometimes caused me difficulty. I didn't want put my children on an eating schedule when they were nursing, so they ate on demand, and I didn't get much sleep for the first years of their lives. Then I didn't want to schedule their nap times. (They did take a nap every day, but it was not always at the same time.) I didn't like meal schedules, school schedules, or house cleaning schedules. I still don't. When my children were small, not making a schedule, accept required things like church and music lessons, worked fairly well. However, when their school work began to increase, so did my lack of organization until finally things fell apart.

My dislike for scheduling and planning left me with a pile of unfinished things. When I would look at the mess, I would be so frustrated that I wanted to cry. I would retreat to my computer room (I still do sometimes.) and find something to distract me from my mess. Then it occurred to me one day that if I learned to schedule some things, and use my free time to work a little bit at the mess, we might have a happier life. I started by attacking my living room. I cleaned the bookshelves, I sorted through the magazines, I removed and eliminated dvds and books that we no longer use or want. Once that job was accomplished, I made a habit of keeping the room clean. Would you believe it has stayed fairly cleaned up for over 3 months now?

There is something to be said for routine and planning, especially when there is a lot to do. I Corinthians 14:40 says, But all things should be done decently and in order. Paul the apostle was taking about church services, but I think that this can apply to our daily lives.

Our Heavenly Father has created a very well-ordered universe. The sun and the stars and the earth move in concert with one another. The sun comes up on time, the moon is on a schedule, the tides come and go. It's dependable. Amidst all that order is wonderful creativity, the leaves change color, but never the same, the waves hit the shore, but never exactly in the same spot. To have routine, to have order to our lives is to reflect our Creator. To be creative with that time is also a reflection of our Creator.

I was tempted to toss the sheets of paper in the trash, but on a second thought, I realized that my husband is right, a little planning never hurts. In fact, when we plan, order and (reasonably) schedule our lives, we mimic our Creator. We can come up with a million different ways to accomplish the goals on our schedules. So the planning sheets are now sitting on my desk. My goal is to sit down on each weekend, ask the Lord for guidance, then plan our school week, plan my work, and make a rough schedule. It won't always be the same, but it will be well-ordered.

Summers Over-School Begins

2007-08-13T20:01:00.001-05:00

It is difficult to believe that the summer is nearly over and that school will be starting soon. As I usually do, I plan way too many things for the time allotted thinking that somehow I will get it all done. Alas, when I make these crazy plans, I forget my precious children and husband need my time and attention. Even so, this was a productive summer in many ways. My "music room" turned junk room is now almost ready to be a music room again. The chicks are almost hens now, and should be laying eggs in about 8 or 9 weeks. Our visiting Beagle has found a new home. My shoulder which was causing me all sorts of problems is finally healed, and I am able to play my cello again.

Our little home school is doing well, and we have our books and supplies ready for another year. (Now someone has to burn a fire under me to get lesson plans done.) Our home school cooperative year is planned, and I am getting ready to teach 3 classes this fall.

I wanted to tile the bathroom floor, paint the kitchen and overhaul our bedroom. It didn't happen, but perhaps I can tackle one issue at a time and have it finished by next spring.

One of the things I love about the Autumn and the beginning of a new school year is that I feel as though I can put things behind me and start fresh. There are new school books (even for the teacher), new clothes, new schedules, new students and growth. The air is cool in the fall and the stars look brighter and more beautiful at night.

The end of one thing and the beginning of another reminds me that God's mercies are new every morning. Each day begins with a fresh start, a new beginning. How blessed we are!

Psalm 1

2007-08-09T18:29:00.000-05:00

Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,nor stands in the way of sinners,nor sits in the seat of scoffers;2 but his delight is in the law of the Lord,and on his law he meditates day and night.
3 He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season,and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.4 The wicked are not so,but are like chaff that the wind drives away.
5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous;6 for the Lord knows the way of the righteous,but the way of the wicked will perish.

ESV

Legalism

2007-08-07T20:41:00.000-05:00

On a web forum I recently joined there was a discussion about the definition of legalism. Having had a good deal of experience as a legalist, I was interested in the answers. In truth, I was not as interested in the answers as I was finding one answer which rarely comes up in the discussion.

When talking about legalism, especially in terms of Christianity, we tend to think of a legalist as someone who adds something to the Scriptures that is not really there. For example, we read that women are to dress in modest apparel, so we decide that modest is a dress, loosely fitting that has sleeves to the elbows, has a high collar and covers the knees. We've added to the Scriptures.

Another way we might think of legalism is to say that we live by the law. We become consumed with whether or not we are obeying every point of the law, and we judge are righteousness and our standing with God based on that obedience. That usually leads to judging everyone elses righteousness as well.

These things describe legalism quite well, but what they don't do is get to the heart of the matter. Legalism is no different than living by the flesh. In other words, we rely on our good works to show how righteous we are. We measure our goodness and our standing with God based on what we do.

Galatians contrasts the works of the flesh with the fruit of the Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit is produced when God's Spirit is working through a person. Though the person is doing good works, he is not getting his strength or desire to do the good works from within himself. His power comes from God's Spirit, and God produces the fruit.

Galatians says that the law cannot touch the fruit of the Spirit. You can't even produce real love, joy, peace, longsuffering, etc. without God's Spirit. When we try to produce fruit by our own efforts, we end up producing the works of the flesh, also listed in Galatians 5. Among those are jealousy, envy, strife, adultery, etc.

It was interesting to me that among all the knowlegeable scholars giving answers to the question of legalism, only one got it right. His answer was long, but held a simple response. It is only in Christ where we find our righteousness, all other efforts are wood, hay and stubble. I agree.

Not Lonely Anymore

2007-08-05T19:49:00.000-05:00

When we have something for a long time, we tend to take it for granted. For me, it's been my friends and my family. As I mentioned earlier on this blog, all my close friends and family seem to have disappeared out of my life (at least temporarily). This weekend, the aloneness was complete. We went to the lake, but I went home early to take care of the animals while my husband and daughters stayed with grandma. I was all alone. I felt like I was single again.

This morning, as I drove (all alone) the 25 miles to the church, I reminisced on my 12 years as a single person. Those were lonely years. I had few friends and only one or two close friends. In those days, I didn't understand about trusting God to meet my needs. Today, I wondered if I have really learned anything in the last 16 years since I married and had children.

I tell my single friends to trust God and let Him meet their needs. I tell them that I have learned that even in married life it can get very lonely, and you have to learn to lean on God for all your needs. Yet, here I was faced with total loneliness for a measly 24 hours, and I wasn't certain I could deal with it. Sure, I could keep myself occupied. I have a lot of hobbies, and it's great to have the time to do them. But the question is not whether I can keep myself occupied with things to do or not. The question is will I use these things to distract me from the emptiness I feel when my friends and family are not around me, or will I run to Christ to meet my needs? Is Christ really enough for me?

At that moment, I realized that no matter how much I think I have learned in the last 16 years, I still need the Lord more than anything. I also learned to be thankful for the moments I have with my children, my husband, my friends, my church. I also had a renewed dose of the struggle my single friends have. They need the Lord, but they also need my friendship and support.

When worship was over this morning, someone from the church invited me to join them at the church's fellowship dinner. Like I did as a single person years ago, I said, "Sure, I'm not busy." What a blessing it was to share a meal with these people and enjoy singing and studying God's Word together. God filled the loneliness, but not simply by coming in and meeting the needs of my heart by Himself (though He is perfectly capable of doing that and has done that for me many times). Instead, He used His people, my family in Christ. This is what it means to belong to the body of Christ. What a blessing!

The Friend Who Sticks

2007-08-05T18:11:00.001-05:00

I just got off the phone with a fairly new friend of mine. Our mutual friend was Peter, my dear friend who went home to be with the Lord recently. Peter told me about his friends, George and Carol, shortly after I met Peter. George was Peter's best and closest friend, and I can now see why.

George is one of those rare people you meet in life who chooses his friends carefully and then sticks by them through thick and thin. Without George (and his sweet wife, Carol), Peter's life would have been a lot more difficult than it was. Their friendship spanned over 20 years. It began when they met at a motorcycle shop where Peter was working on bikes, and it ended the day Peter slipped into heaven. There were years when they hardly saw one another, but that didn't sway their friendship. When Peter moved closer to George and his family, they rekindled the friendship.

George and Peter loved the same things, castles, history and motorcycles. One of their favorite past times was to take off for a day and explore castle ruins. Once they went on a castle hunting trip to Scotland on their motorcycles. After Peter's wife left him, George made sure that Peter never spent the Christmas holidays alone. He called him regularly and encouraged him to get out and do things. When Peter needed to talk, George was there for him. When Peter began to have problems brought on by his drinking, George and Carol intervened. They were at his side when he was in the hospital, and when he passed, they took on the responsibility of settling his estate.

Proverbs 18:24 says this, "A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother." As I chatted with George this evening and thought about his loyalty to Peter, I was reminded of Christ, the Ultimate Friend who stood by us and bore sins without complaint. He endures our constant unfaithfulness and pleads on our behalf before our Heavenly Father. Christ is that Friend who sticks closer than a brother.

Red Tape

2007-07-31T20:11:00.000-05:00

Oh I how I love government bureaucracy! NOT!!! My husband, not yet an American citizen, has lived in the United States for most of his life. He will be 50 in a couple of months, and it is time to renew his driver's license. Because he is an immigrant, he was unable to go to the local Department of Motor Vehicles to renew his license. We decided to make a family outing of it, and we all piled into the car yesterday afternoon to visit the DMV. My husband was armed with a folder full of paperwork.

We arrived at the DMV, my husband signed in, took his eye test, and was seated. When my husband's number was called, he went disappeared into the room reserved for foreigners seeking their driver's license.

(Note: You have to understand that my husband has been driving legally in the United States for all of his adult life and has never had a problem getting a driver's license. )

When he came out, he was crestfallen. They want my my original social security card, and they want a copy of my birth certificate from Montreal. Yikes. So we decided to take a drive over to the social security office to get a replacement card (My husband's had long since disappeared.)
At the Social Security Office, we took a number and were seated. After a 20 minute wait, we went to the window. I needed a replacement card, too, so I gave the woman my information and a picture ID. She filled out the paperwork and told me the card would be in the mail.

Not so for my poor husband. He gave them the information, handed them his picture ID, and they wanted more information. So he pulled out his green card and handed it to the woman. She disappeared into another room with his card. A few minutes later a man came back with my husband's card in his hand. Do you need this replacement card right away? I am going to have to send this to Atlanta, it's not in our computer. Maybe you need to go to immigration. "All I want is a replacement card," my husband said. It's not like I'm applying for a new one. I've been using this number for over 30 years. What is the problem?" The woman gave my husband a blank look.

The man disappeared and came back with a sheet of paper with the directions to the immigration office. It was getting late in the afternoon, so we hurried to the car with our children in tow (poor things, they had to sit through all this with us) and headed for the Immigration. We were almost there when it started to pour down rain. (That should have been a sign.) We pulled up to the door. "Closed" Hours Monday through Friday 8:00 -2:00. What! They close at 2:00? Why so early? Now it was really raining.

"I'm going to go postal!" my husband exclaimed. "Or maybe I should move to Canada with my Aunt." "We could come visit you once a year," I chimed in. My husband groaned. "I've got to get my citizenship sorted out, or maybe I should have lied and said I was an American, they didn't have that in their silly computer."

So where do we go from here? My husband has to get a copy of a birth certificate that doesn't exist. (They didn't issue them in Canada when he was born.) He has to renew his green card for $370 before he can get a Social security card, and then finally he can get his driver's license.

Ever hear the words Red Tape?

The Steps of a good man

2007-07-27T15:46:00.000-05:00

"The steps of a man are established by the Lord, when he delights in his way;" Psalm 37:23

God has all kinds of ways of pruning us to teach us how to trust Him and understand Him more. This pruning process, though painful, is something for which I have come to be thankful. As I have looked over the last month of my life, I have begun to see a trend. Nearly everyone I've gotten close to and leaned on for emotional support is out of my life, either permanently or temporarily. My dear friend passed away last month. Another close friend who I've come to rely on for prayer and support is moving away. My mother, my sister and others to whom I am very close are all out of town. Two more of my friends have slipped off the scene temporarily.

While I was contemplating this recent exodus of friends and confidants in my life, the above verse came to mind. I've never had much trouble understand the first part of this verse. God establishes our steps. For the believer, God goes ahead and makes our paths straight and orders our lives. That in itself is a comfort.

It is the next part of the verse that had me puzzled. Who is "he" who is delighting in "his way". Is the good man delighting in God's way? Or is the Lord delighting in the way of a good man? I asked a friend who is knowledgeable in the scriptures and his answer was "yes". Yes, God delights in the paths of a good man, and a good man delights in God's paths.

Matthew Henry in his commentary on the Psalms has this to say about it:

By his grace and Holy Spirit, he directs the thoughts, affections, and designs of good men. By his providence he overrules events, so as to make their way plain. He does not always show them his way for a distance, but leads them step by step, as children are led. God will keep them from being ruined by their falls, either into sin or into trouble, though such as fall into sin will be sorely hurt.

When my daily path starts to seem a little bleak, as it has in the last month or so, it is tempting to think that maybe God doesn't know what He is doing. When I realize, however, that God orders my steps day by day, I am comforted in the fact that He is delighting in me, and I in turn can delight in what He has in store for me, even in the dry and bleak times. Instead of thinking about how lonely I feel, I can rest in the fact that God is there for me, and this time, too, will be a blessed time.

All Things Work Together For Good

2007-07-26T08:17:00.000-05:00

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28)

When I was young and going to church, the pastor often referred to this verse. It was quoted whenever there was some tragedy that occurred. It was quoted at funerals, over bedsides of the severely ill, or when someone lost a job. I heard it so frequently when things went wrong, that instead of feeling comforted, I became angry. In the branch of the organized church to which I belonged, the general attitude about suffering was "grin and bear it." I don't remember anyone trying to explain what "all things work together for good" meant. It was just the appropriate scripture to quote for that moment. This detachment from the reality of the situations in which we found ourselves left me feeling like a child being abused by an angry parent who used punishment merely as a way to vent anger.

As I visited various churches as a young adult, I heard another twist on this verse. To these Christians, "all things work together for good" meant that God was going to make your life wonderful. If He wasn't making everything work out perfectly, then you must not love Him or something else was wrong in your life. To these people, being a Christian meant that all we had to do was get in line with God's word and our lives would magically be great. We would be prosperous, we would have no sickness (or if we were sick we would be miraculously healed), and we would be happy and successful. That philosophy works great when things are going well. When things get tough, however, and all the repenting and getting right with God doesn't seem to help the situation, you are left wondering, again, if God really cares.

There is yet another more sane interpretation of the this verse that squares more with the rest of Scripture and with real life walking with the Lord. When you are one of God's chosen ones, called to be His own, you love Him. God's promise to His children is not that life will be rosy. His promise is that when you go through the inevitable bad times, He will turn the circumstances to work out for the best for you and your relationship with Him. We are preparing to be with Him for eternity. Our purpose here is not mere existence. Trials are meant to bring us closer to Him and make us stronger in our faith.

When I left a good church job due to terrible circumstances and a lot if injustices toward me, it looked like total disaster for my family. Nearly a 1/4 of our family income was instantly gone. We no longer had a home church to attend. Many of my friends abandoned me. Less than two weeks after that tragedy, my father-in-law died after nearly 4 months of agonizing days in the hospital. A week later, I crashed my new car into my husband's truck damaging both vehicles. Just about the time I recovered from that, my wallet containing $300 I owed to my brother-in-law was stolen by a neighbor in my home while I was helping her grandchild with a bee sting. Not long after these tragedies, I learned one of my dearest friends was diagnosed with liver disease.

What does one do in the face of all these tragedies? Repent in dust and ashes like Job? Yes, but I have learned that the repenting doesn't always come first. God's faithfulness, and the promise that He would make something good come of this string of troubles, is what carried me. No, I don't know why God let this happen, but I do know that He doesn't waste experiences, if we let Him work through them. It is nearly a year since all this happened, and I can look back and see nothing but God's faithfulness in providing for us, in miraculous ways at times. The neighbor who stole the wallet is now a believer and no longer addicted to prescription drugs. God has graciously allowed me to be involved in two churches, one is a church start up, an answer to a prayer I prayed over 10 years ago. I could go on and on. None of these things would have happened if the tragedies had not occurred. God works all things together for good.

The non-believer, the lost person does not have this hope. When tragedy strikes, he has no such assurance that anything good will come of his trials. When his friend dies, his wife leaves him or he loses all his fortune, there is no hope at all. For those of us who know the Lord, this truth should both humble us and make us thankful. It should also cause us to reach out to those who are lost that they may find salvation, renewal, comfort and grace in our merciful Lord.

Psalm 46

2007-07-25T19:36:00.000-05:00

Psalm 46

1 God is our refuge and strength,
a very present help in trouble.
2 Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way,
though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea,
3 though its waters roar and foam,
though the mountains tremble at its swelling. Selah

4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy habitation of the Most High.
5 God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved;
God will help her when morning dawns.
6 The nations rage, the kingdoms totter;
he utters his voice, the earth melts.
7 The Lord of hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah

8 Come, behold the works of the Lord,
how he has brought desolations on the earth.
9 He makes wars cease to the end of the earth;
he breaks the bow and shatters the spear;
he burns the chariots with fire.
10 “Be still, and know that I am God.
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth!”
11 The Lord of hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah

The Path to Healing

2007-07-23T21:12:00.000-05:00

About 4 years ago, I walked into my doctor's office with my stomach in knots. It was my old peptic ulcers coming back to give me grief. My doctor deals in natural medicine, and so I was expecting her usual treatment, a natural remedy, an intestinal cleanse, or some other healthy cure. Instead, she looked at me square in the eye and said, "If you don't find out what emotional problem is causing these ulcers, they are never going to get better." That was a shock.

What could possibly be causing me to have stomach problems? She asked me to think back to the first time I had them and what was going on emotionally at the time. "If you can't figure it out," she told me, "Ask God to make it plain." He showed me all right, and it wasn't pretty. Next she explained to me that instead of properly dealing with the emotional pain and stress that was going on at the time, I had buried it. Now it was coming back to haunt me in the form of stomach ulcers. " Now that God has shown you what it is" she continued, "Tell Him the truth about it, and allow yourself to be angry or cry or whatever." That done, we talked about what the right response should have been in that situation. I spoke the truth about it.

I was emotionally exhausted after that little session, but I felt so much better. Over the next two weeks as things came to my mind, I walked through the same process. By the end of the two weeks, my stomach ulcers were gone. And they haven't come back. I decided that this process was pretty painful, but I really liked how I felt. So I went for more. The next things that came to the surface were worse than the first, but going on the good results, I went for it.

Like an onion being peeled, layer after layer, more and more emotional garbage has surfaced. I have had to expose my true heart to God To my shock, I did not find anger at my failure, but mercy and forgiveness. This was healing. After a number of years of doing this, I'm feeling pretty good. No, the truth is, I'm feeling great.

This morning I picked up a book called "The Healing Path" by Dr. Dan Allender (I highly recommend it.). In his book, Dr. Allender discusses the various ways Christians try to deal with their wounded emotions. Instead of taking God's Healing Path which is, at first, very painful, we avoid or bury our emotions by using all sorts of tactics. We lie to ourselves about the real condition of our hearts, and the real agony of the situations we find ourselves in this sinful world. And the reason we have so many health problems is because we have not followed God's path to healing.

I invite you to join me on this Healing Path. The longer I've traveled down this road, the more renewal I've experienced. I've found physical healing, emotional healing, and best of all a closeness to God that I had not experienced previously.

All is in Christ

2007-07-22T13:44:00.001-05:00

The scripture verse for this morning's worship service was "For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." (Philippians 1:21). The epistle to the Philippians was written near the end of Paul's life. By this time, he knew this truth, not only intellectually, but experientially. Later on in Philippians 3:7-10, Paul says this:

But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,

Paul realized that whatever he might have had to boast in, it was nothing compared to Christ Himself. To Paul, Christ was everything.

These verses in Philippians 3 are particularly important to me, because as a young adult, I attempted to live by them, though I barely understood what they meant. From my youngest years, I was educated in the scriptures at church, at home and at school. Those who were my teachers attempted to ingrain the scriptures and the teachings of Jesus into my thinking. They did a good job. By the time I was a young adult attending a university, I could spout scripture and had an answer for everything. For the most part, I looked the perfect Christian. Though I am thankful for this education, I am not proud of what it made me--a pharisee, white on the outside and black on the inside.

"Actions speak louder than words.", I was told repeatedly. So I worked hard to make my actions look Christian, yet underneath, I knew something was very wrong. I knew what the scriptures taught, and I believed what they said, yet my life did not match up with what I knew and read. This began to trouble me greatly.

A young man who attended my church at the time of his conversion left a deep impression on me. He was tall, handsome, vibrant and most of all radiated the new found joy he had in knowing Christ. His life said to me that he counted all things as rubbish for the sake of knowing Christ, because he had given up a mass fortune to go to a small Bible Institute and live for God. I followed my friend to that same Bible institute thinking that there I would learn to know Christ. I gave up everything, too. I quit my job. Sold most of my belongings and moved into the dormitory at the school. Upon my graduation from the Bible institute, I headed off to France as a missionary for two years.

In my ignorance of what it really means to know Christ, God was merciful. I wanted to know Him, and He let that happen. While I was in France, God taught me two things experientially. 1) God is my Father. He cares for me, and He provides for me. Though numerous times over those years in France, I was without money and food, God provided for me at the moment I needed it. I never went without a meal, and I never lacked for clothes and shelter. 2) God taught me that He loves me. Though He is angry with the wicked every day. He is not angry with His children. He chastises us to bring us closer to Himself, "For his anger is but for a moment, and his favor is for a lifetime." (Psalm 30:5)

To know Christ is to learn about who He is, His character, the way He works in the world. This takes a lifetime of walking with Him. As we come to know Christ, we learn that He is trustworthy, and so we stake our all in Him alone. He is our righteousness. He is our help, our strength, our goodness, our very life. "In Him we live and move and have our being." (Acts 17:28). As was so well put by Claire-lise de Beniot,

All is in Christ;
God's dear Son is Lord of all.
Jesus Christ is life's perfection,
Perfect love and perfect light.
Son of God, the true reflection
Of the Father's radiance bright.
All the treasures of God's riches,
All the secrets of His wisdom.
All in Christ are hid away
Let His name be praised today!

All is in Christ;
Your whole self present to Him.
Vain your quest for lasting pleasure,
Wealth, success, and worldly fame;
Christ alone must be your treasure,
His resource your only claim.
Come, let Him disperse the famine
Of your arid waste existence,
Let God's Son, th' Immortal King
Freely give you everything.

The Doggie Black Hole

2007-07-20T20:04:00.000-05:00

I was awakened this morning by a medium-pitched woooof, woooof just outside my bedroom window. Woof, woof, woof, is not an unfamiliar sound around here. We have Hunter, the 85-lb Swiss Mountain Dog/Retriever mix who sleeps just outside our bedroom door, Smokey, a Black Lab/Chow/Spaniel mix, and Daisy, a stray Beagle who showed up here about a month ago. Each dog has its distinctive bark to which we've grown accustomed. Unless there is alarm in the dogs' bark, we ignore it.

As I listened this morning, I identified the half howl-half bark as that of a Beagle, but slightly lower in pitch than Daisy's. "Did Daisy get out?" My husband said to me half awake. "The bark sounds different." I said. Now fully awake and extremely curious, I got dressed and stepped onto the back steps. The howling stopped. There standing about 30 feet from my back door was another Beagle. This was a male and much older than Daisy. "Wooooof, woooof, woooof, it started in again. I sighed. Welcome to a dog owner's worst nightmare: The Doggie Black Hole, aka, Dog World. The dogs get lost here, and they never want to go home.

Our home is where all stray and lost dogs appear. Though this black hole phenomena is year-round, the black hole's pull seems to be stronger during certain times of the year: June and July (6 to 7 months after Christmas when little gifts have turned to big problems) and September and October (when the weather starts to turn cold). We also get dogs lost after a long night of hunting for rabbits, dogs feeling lonely after a divorce and lost dogs who have heard on the doggy grapevine that they will get food, shelter, a warm bath and some attention at that place up on the hill.

We've never adopted or purchased a dog, yet we always seem to have at least two fine specimens at all times. Our first dog, Stormy, showed up on a real dark and stormy night. We heard a knock, knock at the door. There in the pouring rain stood a man with a rope in his hand. On the other end of the rope was a beautiful black Labrador. "She comes with papers." He said. "I heard you like dogs." Stormy stayed outside in an old doghouse my husband had built years early. Stormy gave us a number of puppies that all found good homes. One of her puppies, Midnight, a misfit, stayed with us.

One day while I was running the dogs, a German Shepherd and a Chesapeake Bay Retriever followed me home. The Shepherd wandered off, but Rosie stayed. She was already old when she arrived, and she stayed another 8 years until she wandered down to the woods one afternoon and died by the water she loved so much. In the meantime, Stormy and Midnight met their fates. Hunter showed up when we were camping at the beach. He was crammed into the van with the kids and camping equipment and came home with us.

Not long after Hunter's arrival, Smokey joined the family. He was a Christmas gift abandoned by one of our neighbors. Next came, Sammie. He didn't last long because he kept biting everything in sight. Once he left, the floodgates seemed to open. We've had Retrievers, Boxers, Beagles, Hounds, and every mix imaginable show up at our doorstep. Some eat and leave. Others come at night for a bite of food, disappear for a few days and come back for more later. Others decide this place would make a good home and refuse to leave. The dogs rarely return to their original owners.

Daisy wouldn't leave. The Labrador that showed up with her was fed and cared for a time and then taken elsewhere so it wouldn't end up at the pound. Now we have another beautiful Beagle. Unlike Daisy, this dog has not been named. He is older and has been through a lot. He has the scars to prove it. He favors one leg. He has fur growing back where it looks like he's been hurt in animal fights. He is a seasoned hunting dog, and it shows. He's a wise old Beagle who has made his home under our office building. Like all the other dogs, he's wandered into the Doggie Black Hole, and I hope his owners find him. If not, maybe we'll give him a good home.

The Simple Life

2007-07-19T19:08:00.000-05:00

Once a year, in honor of my parent's anniversary, my mom and I take a day and go somewhere. We live close to the North Carolina mountains, so we generally head in that direction. Today's trip was no exception. Rather than heading for Black Mountain, Hendersonville or Asheville, we decided to venture north and west toward a little town called Highlands.

After journeying up some snaky roads, we wound up in a little town called Cashiers where we found a great little shop that sold Native American items such as jewelry and moccasins. More snaky road going up led us to the mountain resort town of Highlands. Everything in Highlands is neat, clean and geared to please the rich and those who wish they were rich. The streets are lined with exclusive art galleries, clothing stores, and gourmet restaurants. There are bed and breakfasts, spas and traditional inns. The air is clean and fresh, even in the hot summer months.

We had a pleasant afternoon perusing the shops and stores, found a few treasures, had lunch in a gourmet cafe and escaped the 15 minute downpour. One of the highlights of my afternoon was a visit to a little secondhand bookstore hidden behind some other shops. My daughters went into the shop ahead of me, and when I arrived, they had already found their ways to the children's book upstairs. The owner, a quiet woman in her mid-fifties was vacuuming the stairs. She asked if she could be of some help. I told I was looking for books on music. She sent me to a corner upstairs. When I arrived upstairs, I was greeted by my daughters who were already absorbed, my youngest reading children's books, my eldest petting the owner's dog.

My youngest greeted me with, "Mom, this lady lives up here. There's her bedroom." Sure enough, the door to the woman's bedroom was wide open. Much like the lady in one of our favorite children's books whose house was so full of books she finally turned it into a library, this lady had turned her house into a bookstore. It was charming, warm and friendly, and my children found it difficult to pull themselves away from it.

There is something to be said for the simple life. Finding what you like to do, what you are good at, and blessing the world with it. Before leaving the shop, I told the woman how pleasant everything seemed. She told me, "I love books, and though some of my favorites get sold, I get to have them around for a little while. " There are a lot of things to be learned from that statement, both positive and negative, but I will save that for another day.

Soul Talk

2007-07-15T13:44:00.000-05:00

My husband works in the College of Engineering and Science at a fairly well-known university. His colleagues and friends are scientists, some of them are top in their fields of expertise. On occasion, I have the privilege of joining my husband with his friends for an after work get-together, and sometimes they come out to our house for an evening. Friday was one such occasion. I joined my husband for dinner after work, and about 5 of these scientists and professors joined us.

Eventually, as it usually does, the topic turned from idle chitchat to science. "Hey," one of the scientists said to me, "Did you know that the soul weighs exactly 27 grams? They've done some experiments, and it seems no matter how big or small or what age a person is, they lose 27 grams at the moment of death. This proves that we have a soul."

"I find that absolutely fascinating," I said. A big grin spread across her face. "I thought you would" she said. You see, like nearly all of the professors and scientists my husband knows, she is an atheist. She knows I am Christian. "I'm going to think about that one." I told her. I have been thinking about it, a lot in fact.

When we look at the Gospels and the accounts of Jesus' life and teaching, we find that He spent a lot of time talking about a person's true heart. In the sermon on the mount, Jesus taught that if you are angry at person, you commit murder; and if a man lusts after a woman, he has committed adultery in his heart. It's not just the actions that matter, but the motivation or heart attitude that's behind the action. Jesus also taught that the law could be summed up in two things: love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and your neighbor as yourself. Again, this teaches that love is behind all true good works.

So what does that have to do with the soul? Romans 8:16 says, "The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God," This indicates that we are more than just our minds and our bodies, we are spirit. Ephesians 2:4,5a says "But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ".

We have a spirit (or soul), a part of our being that was dead and has been made alive in Christ. That is the part of us which communicates with God. Those who do not know Christ cannot communicate with God, nor can they truly perform good works, because their spirit is dead. It is from the awakened spirit, through the power of the Holy Spirit that we do good works. This is why Jesus told us that it is a matter of what is in the heart, not just the actions.

So then the fact that we have a spirit which leaves our body at death is very important. For one thing, it proves that a part of us leaves the body when we die. There is life after death, and it is our spirit that leaves the body. For another thing, if we do not have a spirit, then a mental assent to truth is all that is needed to believe, and only those intelligent enough to understand can truly become God's children. But if it is a matter of the spirit, a spirit made alive by Christ, then even the person whose brain is not functioning well or the person whose body has given out can become a child of God and love Him with all their heart.

Completion

2007-07-13T11:33:00.000-05:00

At a funeral I attended recently, the minister spoke about the last words of Jesus on the cross, "It is finished." He reminded us that Jesus did not say, "It's over" or "This is the end" Rather, His words were those of someone who had completed a task set before Him. This work was done. Just as He completed His work. He will complete the work He began in us.

When I think of my life on this earth, or the life of anyone, for that matter, I find great comfort in the fact that God will finish what He started in me. "And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ." (Philippians 1:6) Romans 9 teaches that we have a purpose for being here. Even Pharaoh, in his hardness of heart, was used to show God's glory and power to the Egyptians. Pharaoh's task on earth was completed.

Not only will God complete the work He started in us, but He will also cause all things to work together for our good. Romans 8:28-30 says "And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified." Not only will God complete the work He started in us, but He will also cause all things to work together for our good. As I was reminded this past Sunday, it doesn't mean everything will be great, it means God will use all things to bring about good in our lives so that the work He began will be accomplished and done perfectly.

Our job, then, is to rest in this truth as we go about our lives. We pray believing that God will do what is best for all involved. We live trusting in His Spirit, knowing that each circumstance, each difficulty, each failing, each seeming success brings us one step closer to the day of completion. We love others, believing that God will accomplish His purposes in them as well. We love God, assured that our lives are in the best possible care. We trust Him knowing that He will bring us safely to our final destination, our home with Him for eternity, the work He began in us completed. We worship and praise Him thanking Him that we have the privilege of living life on this earth under the watchful care of the Alpha and Omega, the Creator, the Holy One, the Giver of Life, God Almighty.

God's Little Creatures

2007-07-12T20:38:00.000-05:00

Well, the menagerie in my household is growing. The latest addition is a small ribbon snake. Ribbon snakes have three yellow stripes down their backs and small bits of red and black in between. Their little tongues are bright red. Larry was given a nice sized reptile aquarium with pond made from a dog dish, a hollowed out piece of log my husband found on the property, a rock and a bit of tree found on the wood pile.

Ribbon snakes eat small fish, frogs and tadpoles, so my daughter, the caretaker of this lovely specimen, is also keeping fish in her room. The small fish aquarium has yet to be located, so my daughter decided to put the fish in the small waterfall fountain in her room so that the water would be aerated for the fish. The minnows thought this was great fun and started to jump out of the fountain. There were fish on the desk and fish on the floor. My daughters were standing guard catching fish as they jumped out. A makeshift cover made from a grease screen for a frying pan solved the problem.

Watching these little creatures, the snake and the fish, reminded me again of the amazing care that God took when He created the animals. The snake so agile moves in stealth and silence. The fish in the little snake pond can sense the presence of the snake and quickly move out of the way. What a wonder it is to be able to enjoy God's creation!

My Good Friend

2007-07-06T14:16:00.000-05:00

News reached me early last week that my good friend, Peter, who had been ill for some time went home to be with the Lord. Peter's health problems were brought on by a lifetime of too much drinking. Liver problems combined with gall bladder cancer made his situation hopeless.

Near the end of his life, Peter came to know the Lord. His faith in Christ, especially at the beginning, was simple and naive, much like that of a young child. It was that childlike faith which he never lost, not even at the end, that left such a deep impression on me. Throughout the few years that I knew him, I saw his faith grow and his understanding and love for God deepen.

Peter and I shared a lot of common interests, and I spent many hours talking and sharing with him via that miracle of technology, the web cam. Peter grew to know and love my husband and children and take a vital interest in them. He prayed regularly for them, and the last time I spoke with him, his deepest concern was not for his failing health, but for us. I still remember the sigh of relief I heard in his voice when I told him that things were well.

Peter had a difficult life. He lost his precious mother at a young age, and his father foolishly married a woman who was unkind to Peter throughout the remainder of his life at home and on into his adult life. His wife of many years, left him for one of his good friends, and the home he thought he would inherit from his father was left to his stepmother and stepsister. Our friendship broadened my understanding of those who struggle with alcohol abuse and made me realize that not everyone who is a believer is perfect right from the start.

Peter loved God's creation. He loved horses and gardens, oceans and mountains. He was fond of history and spent hours with his long time friend visiting and photographing castle ruins. He loved fine art and music and dance, good books, movies and poetry. He loved good food and was knowledgeable in the art of cooking. No recipe he gave me ever failed to make my guests come begging for more. He was a fine motorcycle mechanic and worked long hours at the shop until he was no longer able to do so. Peter could tell a good story and always seemed to be interested in others.

When I think of Peter's life, it saddens me to see the sorrow, the struggle and the grief which he endured, but I am thankful that he came to know the Lord. I am thankful for the friendship that we had, and I am grateful that he is now with the Lord praising Him forever.

In Memory of a Dear Friend

2007-07-01T17:18:00.001-05:00

See you on the Other Side, Peter

Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints.
Psalm 116:15

Intelligible Worship

2007-06-23T17:39:00.000-05:00

I have been following a discussion on a blog page about the value of the Latin mass in the Roman Catholic Church. I am not a catholic, I don’t hold to catholic theology, and I don’t agree with the theology of the mass. However, I couldn't help but appreciate the honesty of this catholic priest who questioned the value of the Latin mass to the worshipper, because it is inaudible and unintelligible. I assume this priest was looking for some honest answers so he could happily embrace the Latin mass, but so far, no one has been able to give him a good answer. He won’t find a good answer, because there is none.

For those of us who have been raised in protestant churches, having worship in a language we can understand is a no-brainer. The reformers wanted the people to have the Word of God preached in a language they could understand so they could come to know the truth of God’s Word for themselves. Martin Luther went even further when he wrote hymns that fit tunes common to the every day man. John Calvin hired men to set the Psalms to tunes in the vernacular so people could obey the command to sing Psalms. This was the legacy they left us.

The reformers also understood that real worship cannot take place if the worshipper is not fully engaged, mind, soul, body and strength. This teaching is clear throughout the New Testament. (Romans 12:1,2 Mark 12:30). If the language either spoken or sung is not in a common tongue, the worshipper cannot understand and engage his mind and heart. Corporate worship takes place when all the worshippers present are pouring out their hearts to God in one accord whether through song, prayer or preaching.

For those of us who are non-Catholics, we might scoff at the priest for not seeing clearly what seems so obvious to us. However, before we laugh too hard, we should ask ourselves what hinders our worship? Some insist on using the King James Bible, a 17^th century English translation, even though there are better translations available and the KJV is difficult for the average person to understand. Others insist on singing hymn tunes that put people to sleep, even though there are now hundreds of more contemporary tunes to sing to the same words. On the flip side, there are those who insist on singing contemporary songs with horrible tunes that are difficult to sing in a congregation.

The reason why the Catholic Church holds to its Latin mass is tradition, and the reason why we often hold to our pet ways of worship is tradition. If our King James Bibles and our old hymn tunes and whatever else we do works for our congregation, then by means keep it. But if it hinders believers from worshipping God with a whole heart, then out the window it should go.

New Chicks

2007-06-19T22:28:00.001-05:00

I was awakened yesterday morning by a phone call from the post office. "Are you expecting a delivery of chicks?" I was, I told him. I'd be there within the hour. Sunday had not been as restful as it usually was for me. In addition to attending church in the morning and in the evening, I had spent the rest of my day, "getting the cow out of the well". (See Luke 14:1-6) We spent most of the day Saturday preparing the chicken house, but we were unable to complete the project, so we had to finish it on Sunday afternoon.

After numerous delays, my youngest and I drove the 10 or so miles to our rural post office where the chicks were delivered. The post man seemed fascinated with a box of cheeping little cuties serenading him. I let my daughter hold the box in her lap, and we drove back home cheep, cheep, cheeping all the way.

It took us some time to get the little brooder area for our little chicks, but eventually we placed them one by one into their new home.

Just before a chick hatches from the egg, it ingests the yoke. A chick can live on this for up to 3 days. Hatcheries count on this when mailing chicks. When the chicks arrive at their destination, they are hungry and ready to eat. Since these chicks have no mother hen to teach them how to find their food and drink, it becomes the job of the chicken farmer to do it. As we placed our chicks in the brooder area, we had to show each one their food and water. It only takes once for most of the chicks, and they find their way back.

Every so often one of the chicks either doesn't find its food and water or the other chickens keep it away from the food source. Eventually the chick gets weak and dies. Two days after the chicks arrived, one poor little chick for some reason didn't get to the food and eventually the other chicks tromped on it. When I arrived to check on the chicks, it was almost dead. I took the little chick and held it my hands until it warmed up and then gave it some water. My daughter and I took turns nursing it along for a couple of hours. It gradually revived to the point where I felt I could leave it unattended. We got a cardboard box, lined it with soft fabric and gave the chick food and water. We put the chicken under a warm light so it would not get chilled. Not more than an hour after later, the poor little bird was gone.

As I contemplated what had happened, I thought about how the little bird had almost begun to thrive again under watchful care. As soon as we stopped holding it and talking gently to it, it seemed to give up wanting to live. I suppose the chick wouldn't have made it anyway. Most likely, it was hurt when the other chicks trampled it, yet it made me think about the loving care of our Heavenly Father. Unlike me, He doesn't get tired of caring for me, and He doesn't put me down and leave me when it appears that things are going well. He said, "And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age."

How thankful I am for God's loving care.

The Great Chicken Switch

2007-06-16T20:32:00.000-05:00

In anticipation of the arrival of a flock of day old chicks in a few days, my husband and I spent the day making some changes in our chicken coops. Several years ago, my husband and my father built a beautiful chicken coop that houses up to 50 chickens. We received our first flock of 28 day-old chicks and raised them in a special cage my husband built over the bathtub in the spare bathroom, because we did not have heat or electricity in the new chicken coop.

A few years later we purchased another flock of chicks and moved the few chickens we still had from the first flock into a smaller coop. We raised the second flock of chicks in the bathtub, too. After cleaning up that mess the second time I vowed I would never raise chickens in the house again.

Last year my husband built a makeshift incubator out of an old cooler and hatched a small flock of chicks from our eggs. (Much to my chagrin, they chicks were in the house again.) The chickens were moved to the large coop, and after loosing two hens to a dog attack, and a battle with Merck's disease that killed about 5, we ended up with 3 roosters and 3 hens. Now if you know anything about chickens, you know that having too many roosters in a hen house can cause all sorts of problems. So, of course, we had to separate our roosters which brings us to the reason why had all this chicken switching going on today.

The 5 happy chickens living in the "Chicken Hilton" (dubbed so by my husband) had to go to the "Retirement Coop" and the rooster living in the "Retirement Coop" had to have a new home built for him, and this was all because "It was the middle of the night." (oops sorry, wrong story). We had to do all this switching around because the "Chicken Hilton" needed to be cleaned and sanitized for the day old chicks. For the first time in the 10 years we have kept chickens, we are actually going to raise our chickens in the chicken house where they belong and not in my house! I am so happy. I will get a walk at least twice a day, because I will have to tend to the chicks. I won't have chicken dust in my house, hence I won't have my nose running constantly because of my allergies, and I won't have to contend with roosters, because we ordered 50 hens! Life is good.

I'll Rest in Christ

2007-06-13T22:53:00.000-05:00

In our Sunday evening Bible studies at the church I am attending, we are going through the book of Galatians. In Galatians, we learn that Christ is our righteousness and that no work of the law that we can perform can make us righteous. Christ lived a perfect life and fulfilled the law for us. All we need to do is trust in His accomplished work, for we are clothed in His righteousness. When God sees us, He sees Christ.

I found this lovely hymn today while perusing the Reformed Praise Website. The hymn is based on words by Isaac Watts, the words were adapted by David Ward. David Ward also wrote a lovely tune to the hymn which can be found on his website.

I’ll Rest in Christ

No more, my God, I boast no more
Of all the deeds that I have done;
I leave the hopes I held before
To trust the merits of Your Son.

Chorus:
So I’ll come to You and rest
From my so-called righteousness.
I will cease my striving and put my hope in Jesus.
Trusting in His work for me.
I’ll rest in Christ.

By sov’reign love I bear His name,
What was my gain I count my loss.
My former pride I call my shame
And nail my glory to His cross.

The finest works of my own hands
Dare not appear before Your throne:
But faith can meet Your law’s demands
For Jesus’ deeds are now my own.

The Clamor of Bickering Men

2007-06-12T21:22:00.000-05:00

Over the past several months, I have been following some interesting discussion on a blog written by an old friend of mine. My friend, a former evangelical turned catholic priest, devotes his blog page to promoting and defending the catholic faith with the same fervor that many of his former fundamentalist colleagues ridicule the catholic faith.

Recently, the discussion on the blog has been mission work and evangelism in catholic countries. My priest friend took a jab at a group of Baptist teens in "jazzy T-shirts with Bible verses on them" whom he had run into on a recent mission trip. The teens were going to a catholic country to convert people to Christ. He felt the general belief of Protestants is that all Catholics need to be converted to Christ (pretty much a true statement), and he was incensed by it. The priest's evangelical friend responded with a list of reasons why he felt that Catholics need to be converted, and that was followed up by a response from my friend about poor, superstitious catholics who regrettably are too ignorant to know better. On it went. I had trouble following most of it.

As I thought about this bantering back and forth that went on between these two adult men who as far as I can tell are sitting on opposite sides of the same fence, it dawned on me that they were both missing the point. Energized by their desire to defend their petty little positions, they complete forgot about Jesus Christ. They also forgot that outside their two very large groups of nominal believers (for those are the real objects of their criticism), there is a group of devout believers who care nothing for evangelicalism, fundamentalism or Catholicism. These men and women care only about loving and serving the Lord Jesus Christ and glorifying Him on the earth. These are the true believers (and by the way, they can be found just about anywhere on the earth if you look for them).

As I contemplate these things, I can see in my mind's eye a multitude of bickering men (and women). On one side there are the evangelicals, on the other side the catholics. The noise is loud and the confusion is great. A great gray cloud hangs over them. To the side, a small group of simple men and women stand staring at the multitude in disbelief. Together, as one, the little group turns their backs on the clamor and walks away toward a Light in the distance. The sound of the bickering fades and the Light of Christ grows brighter. They have seen the Light of Christ and are not bothered by the bickering and fighting of religious men. Christ has shown His Light in their hearts, and they are changed forever. So while silly men fight over religion, they quietly carry the Gospel Light of Christ into the world ignored and often forgotten. These are the true missionaries.

Out for a Joy Ride

2007-06-04T21:56:00.000-05:00

Our Pond

About a week ago a trio of hooligans raced down our river in their 4-wheelers (ATVs). Yes, they were in the river. I was out for a Sunday afternoon stroll around the property when I heard this awful noise that reminded me of a go-cart or chain saw. It sounded like it was coming from across the river, so I decided to walk down to the river and have a look. Imagine my surprise when I stuck my head between a break in the tree-lined river bank to see three 18-something looking boys on ATVs up to their ankles in river bottom muck! Tires were spinning and throwing mud everywhere, and one of the boy's was trying to free himself from 18 inches of muck and a vine that got tangled in his front axle.

I stood there staring at the boys stunned by what I was seeing. A large tree had fallen across the 18 inch deep river keeping them from going any further. The normally clear river water was a deep muddy red and the smell of exhaust permeated the air. If I hadn't seen it with my eyes, I would not have believed it. For what seemed like a very long time I stood there with my hands on my hips staring at the three boys. Finally, one of them noticed me. I was about ready to shout, "Hey, don't you know this is private property. Get out of here!" But then I remembered that I was one, and they were three and much bigger. Instead, I grabbed my camera which I happened to have with me and started snapping pictures.

At the sight of my camera, they hurried up the process, turned around and three abreast, headed back in the direction they had come throwing up water and mud all along the way. About every few seconds, I heard tires spinning, and the sound of another one trying to get his tires out of the muck. Quickly I hurried back to the house to find my husband who was sitting on the back steps when I arrived. "You want to use your shotgun? There are three guys on 4-wheelers in the river." He jumped up and followed me down to the river while I explained what had happened.

By the time we returned, the boys were gone, but evidence of their presence will be there for a very long time. We walked down the length of the pristine river that lines our property. Though we couldn't see the river bottom, we knew that the tires had dug deeply holes in the river bed. No doubt, the numerous turtles, water snakes, salamanders, lizards, fish, snails and other wild life who live in our river had their homes disturbed if not totally destroyed. How many of the small animals along that long stretch of the river were killed? I could not even begin to guess.

As we continued to assess the damage, we noticed the small waterfall made of river rocks that my husband, a friend of ours and I had spent the greater part of a weekend restoring nearly 14 years earlier. It had survived rain, floods and children playing on it all those years, and in a matter of a few minutes, it was completely destroyed. I shook my head in disbelief, in a short 15 minutes 3 boys on ATVs had done more damage than anything nature had thus far dished up.

I don't consider myself to be an environmentalist. I don't give money to Green Peace, and I am not so sure how I feel about people losing their property to national parks for the sake of the environment. What I do care about is the land that has been entrusted to me and my husband. When we decided to live here, we made a choice to allow the wild animals to roam free and live at peace with us as long as they were not causing harm to us or our children. We fish in river, and throw them back or put them in the pond, we rescue tadpoles, and we are careful to let rare native plants continue to grow along the river rather than chop them down for our convenience. And, we don't look too kindly on people who come in and destroy it for a moment of fun.

I don't wish bad on the hooligans who partied on my river, but I do hope that the next time they want to go for a joy ride, they take it to a place designed for ATVs and leave our little part of heaven alone.

House Cleaning

2007-06-04T14:33:00.000-05:00

Have you ever watched one of those clean house shows on TV? I'm speaking of the ones where a team goes in, cleans out all the junk in one or two rooms, has a big yard sale and then redecorates the once messy rooms. I watched one such show a few weeks ago and laughed so hard that it hurt, not because the mess was so funny, but because the two people in the show were holding on to their junk like some of the members of my family. No one wants to throw anything away, sadly, me included. It was funny, but I had a sense of guilt as I thought of the growing pile of junk in the room once dedicated to be my music room.

Today, I put my foot down and told my youngest daughter that she could not play with her friend until her room was clean. Feeling a bit guilty because I've spent more time in here typing blog pages and reading news articles than keeping after her mess, I volunteered to pitch in and help. One thing led to another, and before I knew it, I was tearing into the mess in the "music room", my other daughter is rearranging her bedroom, and my youngest was still digging through the mess in her room. I think we need some of those experts to come and help us out!

As much as I dislike sorting through messes (that's probably why things get so bad), I believe it is a good thing now and again to go throw things and get rid of what we don't need. We Americans, especially, are terribly about accumulating things, and Walmart and Target are more than happy to help us fill our homes with useless junk. The sad thing is, most of these things only collect dust, and they do not last.

As I ponder the mess in my house, I am reminded of Jesus' words in Matthew 6:19-21 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." God grant me the grace to let go of my earthly treasures and focus on laying up treasures in Heaven.

Back to work!

The Spinning Wheel

2007-06-02T14:51:00.000-05:00

One of my many hobbies is hand spinning. In case you don't know what that is (I am surprised at how many people don't know what it is), hand spinning is taking a raw fiber such as wool or cotton and spinning it into yarn or thread which can be used to weave, knit or crochet. Nearly all items of clothing are made from some kind of fiber which has been spun somewhere along the line.

Today we have huge machines that spin many fibers at the same time, but it was not always so. Prior to the invention of the spinning wheel (sometime during the middle ages 400-1000 A.D.), yarn and thread was made on a spindle. A drop spindle is made of a long stick with a weight of wood or stone on one end. This process was long and arduous and anyone who was inclined to do domestic work rather than work in the fields knew how to use one. When the spinning wheel came along, the process of spinning fiber into thread and yarn was improved dramatically, and it is evidenced in the fashion of the day. Since there was less time spent on spinning, more time could be spent on the design of the clothing. The design of the spinning wheel was improved over the years until the foot treadle was added somewhere around the 16th or 17th century. It is this "treadle wheel" that I use to spin. I also use a number of types of drop spindles whose designs date back to the earliest spindles.

In 1764 the Spinning Jenny was developed by James Hargreaves. It was at this point that the use of the spinning wheel for commercial yarn began a decline until finally it was only used in homes. As commercial fabric and yarn became more readily available, the family spinning wheels were relegated to the attic or barn.

During the Civil War era in the United States, some of the wheels were taken out again as commercial fabric became harder to find, but at the end of the war, the wheels went right back to the attics and barns. Today, the spinning wheel is used mostly by artists and fiber enthusiasts who enjoy the process of creating yarn and thread to use in their work.

Spinning first caught my interest when I saw a woman using a spinning wheel at a local art show. Longing to be part of the "spinning revival" I took classes and bought a wheel. A few years ago, I joined a spinning guild. We meet once a month as women have done for centuries to spin, knit, crochet and "spin a few yarns" too. Several times a year, I attend functions where I have the opportunity to demonstrate the use of the wheel and show off some of my work.

For more information on spinning wheels see: http://www.newyorkcarver.com/inventions3.htm http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/TEXjenny.htm

Nothing New Under the Sun

2007-06-01T12:49:00.000-05:00

Have you ever gotten into a discussion with a religious person who had an agenda? I did recently. I met a woman who seemed genuinely interested in learning more about the Lord. She asked, "Are you a Christian?" When I replied that I was, she asked me what I could tell her about Jesus. "What do you want to know?" I asked. She said she wanted to know everything I could tell her. "That's a lot," I said, "Could you be more more specific?" She said she wanted to know why Jesus was called the Son of Man.

I began to share with her what the Gospels teach about Jesus and why He was called the "Son of Man". We talked for 40-45 minutes, more questions, more answers. All of a sudden, the tone of the questions changed. Before I knew it, she was questioning everything I said and spouting Scriptures at me (completely out of context). (I thought I was speaking to someone who wanted to learn something, but she seemed to be fairly well-versed in her topic.) The discussion continued. "Do you see where I'm going with this?" She said. (Going with this? I thought I was telling her what I knew about the Lord.) Finally I asked, "What religion are you, Seventh Day Adventist? Jehovah's Witness?" I got a vague answer. "What is your agenda?" She evaded the question and asked me something else. "If you don't tell me what religious group you belong to, the conversation is ending right now." Flustered, she asked me another question to try to change the subject. "What point are you trying to make?" Another attempt to change the subject--end of discussion.

In the course of our discussion, the woman tried to use Scripture to tear down and rebuild much of what I believe. That bothered me. The woman was deceptive by leading me to believe that she wanted to learn more about the Lord when, in fact, she had an agenda.

As I thought about my conversation with the woman, I remembered a discussion that happened in the Garden of Eden. The serpent, a crafty creature, came to Eve and asked her if God really meant what He said about eating fruit from the tree in the garden. She replied that they weren't allowed to eat of the fruit or touch the tree or they would die. "You will not surely die." The serpent told Eve. "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” We all know what Eve and Adam did. They ate the fruit.

How was the tactic the woman tried to use on me the other day any different from the age old tactic the serpent used on Eve in the garden? There's not much difference. Here it is in a few steps:

1. Take your "victim" off guard by questioning them. In my case, the woman started by making me think that she was interested in learning more about Christianity. I was relaxed and not expecting the conversation to be turned so quickly.

2. Find a major point in your "victim's" belief system, and try to find a hole. In the garden, the serpent told Eve that God was wrong, she wouldn't die. In my case, the woman tried to make me think that I had misread the Scriptures that talked about Jesus Christ.

3. Once you have them questioning and in a state of confusion, throw a new idea in their direction. The serpent told Eve that not only would she not die, but that she would become like a god knowing good and evil. The woman I spoke with was telling me that there was another way to come to God instead of through Jesus Christ.

There is nothing new under the sun, and cult recruiters, politicians and anyone else who is trying to lure unsuspecting victims into their group will use these tactics. As Christians, we don't need to stoop to deception or even clever arguments to try to bring people to Christ. All we need do is present them the truth of the Gospel and the love of Christ, and let the Spirit of God do the convincing work in their hearts.

Griping Is Not Tolerated

2007-05-30T11:46:00.000-05:00

I attended a fairly well-known fundamentalist university in Greenville, South Carolina, and like most of the inmates, I had to live in the dormitories. On the back of every dormitory room door was a printed sheet of paper (something like that checklist you see on the door of a cheap hotel room) with a list of dos and don'ts (mostly don'ts). One of the "don'ts" was "Griping is not tolerated." I like that rule, God seemed to like it, too, because the Children of Israel got in trouble for grumbling more than once.

This morning, my youngest got up and without so much as a good morning, walked into the front room, sat down on the couch and promptly began to complain about having to do school work today. When I asked her to stop complaining, she started in with a fresh list of reasons why she didn't want to do her school work. When I told her that if she did not stop grumbling she would not be allowed to stay with her friend and go swimming while I was out today, she started in with another list of reasons why she didn't want to do school work. "Fine" I told her. "You can come with me instead of swimming with your friend." A total look of shock crossed my daughter's face. "Griping is not tolerated." I told her. "You don't have much school work to do, and it's not one of those things in life that you have a choice about."

I should have prefaced this little story with the fact that my daughter's little friend has mastered the art of manipulating her mother with whining, griping and complaining. Her mother gets so sick of it, she lets the little girl have her way. My daughter was trying it out on me.

In the Old Testament, we have the example of the Children of Israel who grumbled and complained about the food and water God was providing for them. I Corinthians 10 teaches us that those who grumbled were destroyed by the Destroyer. I Corinthians 10:13 reminds us that God will not give us more temptation than we can handle. In other words, nothing that comes our way is too much for Him to overcome through Christ in us, whether it is famine, death, pain or school work.

The reason that grumbling and complaining is so bad is that it says in so many words, "God, I don't like what You've allowed in my life, I don't like what You are providing for me, or I don't think you know what You are doing." Griping and complaining (and I speak to myself, too) reveal a lack of trust in God and a heart of ungratefulness.

The next time I am tempted to grumble and complain about my circumstances, may I be reminded that God knows what He is doing, and griping is not tolerated.

Graduation Day

2007-05-28T09:48:00.001-05:00

This afternoon, we attended my niece's high school graduation. What made an impression on me as I watched the professors hand out awards and certificates, was that so many students were awarded and recognized for their work. Of the handful of students who were not recognized for something, most seemed almost ashamed as they walked across the stage to receive their diplomas. Why the shame? I thought. Every student in that school had a reason to be proud of their work. They had to have a certain level of achievement just to get into the school and in order to stay, they had to have a high grade point average. Nearly all the students had taken college courses during their high school years, and all had spent the entire year working on a difficult senior project which they had to complete with good marks in order to graduate.

What good are awards and accolades, I wonder, if 85% of the students receive them? And what of those who don't receive them? Are they less important? I don't think so. Contrary to what many believe, awards and high marks in school are not a guarantee to success in life. Of course, they help along the way. But if over 3/4 of the graduating seniors receive accolades, are they worth much?

And what really guarantees success in life? If we are to believe the speech of the top senior in today's graduating class, we command our destinies. It's all up to us. While it is true that there are consequences to every decision we make in life, there are just as many uncertainties that change everything. We can't determine natural disasters, untimely deaths, accidents or diseases. These things are out of our hands.

So what does that all have to do with accolades and rewards? Once those students walked off the stage with diploma in hand, the playing field changed. A good grade or award will do them nothing when a family member dies, their best friend is killed in a car accident, a child or spouse gets cancer, or a hurricane or fire destroys the family home. It will not guarantee them a good marriage, healthy children or a happy life. It will not guarantee them strength in adversity. When life starts to get tough, as it eventually does, it is faith in God that gives strength to make it in life.

My niece, though she received no accolades today, walked off that stage possessing the one thing that will guarantee she'll make it in life and in eternity. That is that is her love for God and her relationship with Jesus Christ.

Addicted to Pleasure

2007-05-26T10:07:00.000-05:00

The Florida promoters of fun, food and fantasy, have taken materialism and entertainment to an entirely new level, and I am still recovering from the shock of having spent a week in the middle of it. Like Pleasure Island in the Pinocchio film, flocks of people are selling their souls for fun at Florida's amusement parks which offer thrills and entertainment at the highest levels. Roller coasters, pleasure rides, shows, food, trinkets, games, and movies are available at every turn...for a price.

Now don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with a roller coaster or boat ride or clean entertainment. It's the excess of such things that bothers me so much. A day at an amusement park is about all any person can handle, or should handle. Unless, of course, you are trying to escape from reality. What I remarked about my family, children included, was that a day of riding rides, going to shows and eating amusement park food was the limit. By about 4:00 in the afternoon, my children were begging us to take them home. They had had enough. When the week was all over my daughter told me how glad she was to be at home. A week later, she is still telling me how glad she is to be home. I share her feelings.

My question is "why would anyone purposely subject themselves to that?" In our case, the entire trip was given to us. Neither my husband nor I would have chosen to spend that kind of money or that many days consecutively for nothing but pure entertainment. We would much rather have spent the money to pay bills or go camping on the beach.

As far as I can tell, the reason people, especially pleasure-loving Americans, are so bent on throwing away their cash at such places (and not just Florida, Las Vegas also comes to mind) is because something is missing from their lives. Pleasure and fun helps people forget about their pain, depression, and emptiness. For a few brief moments, they are willing to throw away weeks of hard-earned salary to pretend to be somewhere else.

While I wandered through these amusement parks, I was struck by the fact that the bigger, "badder", more dangerous rides were the busiest, and the tamer, less frightening rides hardly had lines at all. When I was a teenager and went to some of these places, people seemed to be content with simple entertainment. Now it has to be more real, more scary, more fantastic or people are not interested. Does the word addiction come to mind? Just like the one drink that once worked to numb doesn't work any more, so the tamer, milder rides no longer do the trick. Not only that, instead of one day, two, three, four, or even ten days are needed to get the same thrill.

And what is the price for all of this? Apart from the thousands of dollars emptied from our pockets, we lose our innocence and our spiritual senses are numbed (believe me, they get numbed after a few days of this). It is empty because it speaks not to the glory of God (we were made to glorify God), but to the glory of man. In his book, That Hideous Strength, C.S. Lewis talks about a place where everything is fake and plastic. In this place, there are no reminders that God created anything. All that is there speaks to the glory of man. In these amusement parks, I have the same feeling. Most everything is copied and fake, a mere shadow of the real. When we give our time, energy and ourselves to that which brings glory to man, we are only more empty. When we give ourselves to that which we were made to do, glorify God and enjoy Him forever, we find ourselves fulfilled.

Frankly, I don't care if I ever go back to an amusement park. Give me trees, grass, flowers, blue sky and clean air.

Our Legacy

2007-05-25T11:16:00.000-05:00

Today was "Girls day out". My friend, her daughters, my daughters and I went out to see a movie and have dinner. My friend, a fellow "home school mom", works part-time as I do and attempts to school her children at the same time. It's a tough road, and to her credit, she has successfully home schooled one daughter through high school and is doing a great job educating the other two.

Being both mother and teacher to a child can often be grueling and stressful. The compassionate side that comes from being a mother often takes over when it shouldn't, and the "drive sergeant" teacher comes out when there should be love and understanding. When my friend and I get together, we enjoy the opportunity to compare notes, ask advice of one another and revel in the fact that we have been given the privilege of educating our children.

One thing I have noticed about home school parents, especially the mothers, is that they are not just teachers to their children, but learners themselves. They love to study and are always in the process of learning something new. My friend is no exception. In the midst of her crazy schedule, she manages to find a little time to learn to read and write the Cherokee language. I applaud her efforts. Unlike so many people out there, she sees the value of preserving the past for future generations.

What so many people don't realize is that preserving the past is not just storing treasures in museums and reading information in books. It also has to do with handing down skills and information from one person to the next. I learned to use a spinning wheel, because I don't want to see that skill disappear. My friend studies Cherokee and is learning (from the local mountain people) how to prepare and administer herbal remedies from plants grown in the area, because she does not want to see these skills fall by the wayside.

This is something of what home schooling is about. In addition to teaching our children the required facts and knowledge that they will need to be successful as adults in our world, we hope to give them a love for learning and a desire to study "hands on" the skills and knowledge of our past so that it will be there for future generations. We also long to pass our faith on to our children. The time and energy poured into their lives, we believe, will not be wasted.