tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25446562205772638172024-03-13T01:20:50.512-05:001 Road Traveled1 Road Traveled is a blog by TR Robertson, a writer. With apologies to Robert Frost, we're all travelling on the same road, with many different ways to travel that road.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger398125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2544656220577263817.post-9266112988221756322023-05-31T13:45:00.001-05:002023-05-31T13:47:03.397-05:00Ridesharing: How Did He Know?<div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvjLMSIIuM6c0y17k7kjSOPHnJHJhsMpNFG_4mPj6LGNVTnRrVwddiD-RcH_zb_5nt_M0f50oU8aFoUAWr0t3iV2a2LZqnB4GWnsC8Tja445Rk0FlcNX2qjoqarXLhilrRjAjNr6uaJ2PKIAvyplsFfOoHK7zsrlWmOQ1NOiKY1nrPVvo1SZXsqrnNgg/s370/Ridesharing%20Wisdom%20in%20the%20Streets.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="Ridesharing: Wisdom in the Streets" border="0" data-original-height="370" data-original-width="276" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvjLMSIIuM6c0y17k7kjSOPHnJHJhsMpNFG_4mPj6LGNVTnRrVwddiD-RcH_zb_5nt_M0f50oU8aFoUAWr0t3iV2a2LZqnB4GWnsC8Tja445Rk0FlcNX2qjoqarXLhilrRjAjNr6uaJ2PKIAvyplsFfOoHK7zsrlWmOQ1NOiKY1nrPVvo1SZXsqrnNgg/w238-h320/Ridesharing%20Wisdom%20in%20the%20Streets.jpg" width="238" /></a></div><br />There's one phrase rideshare drivers hate to hear from their passengers.</div><div><br /></div><div>Actually there are two. The other one is "I'll tip you on the app," usually spoken as the passenger is exiting the car at their destination. Rideshare drivers will almost always respond by saying to themselves: "No you won't." Because the vast majority of the time they won't. The ones who do tip generally don't feel the need to tell you they're going to.</div><div><br /></div><div>That other phrase, though, is also almost always untrue. </div><div><br /></div><div>"I'll be right out."</div><div><br /></div><div>It's usually texted to the driver at the 3:00 minute mark of waiting for the passenger. This happens because around that time the rideshare app will automatically send a text to the passenger reminding them that soon they will begin to be charged extra for the wait time.</div><div><br /></div><div>And so they react to this warning by texting the driver, "I'll be right out", in the futile hope that by doing so the automated algorithm that guides the app will believe their lie and decide to take pit and not charge them.</div><div><br /></div><div>I recently pulled up to an apartment complex and began the wait for my passenger. At the 3:00 mark he texted, "Be right out" and I told the app, "No he won't". Rideshare drivers often talk to their app.</div><div><br /></div><div>This passenger went a step further and texted me an explanation: "I can't find me keys."</div><div><br /></div><div>My initial reaction was to wonder why this statement was relevant to my life. But then inspiration hit me and I texted him back.</div><div><br /></div><div>"They’re in your pocket from last night."</div><div><br /></div><div>About 20 seconds later the passenger texted back, "LOL. On my way." And out he came from the building and into my car.</div><div><br /></div><div>"How did you know that?" was the first thing out of his mouth. "How did you know the keys were in my pocket?"</div><div><br /></div><div>My answer: "I'm a parent. You’re like my son was at that age."</div><div><br /></div><div>This ridesharing experience reminded me of another story.</div><div><blockquote>When evening came, Jesus was reclining at the table with the Twelve. And while they were eating, he said, “Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me.” They were very sad and began to say to him one after the other, “Surely you don’t mean me, Lord?” (Matthew 26:20-22)</blockquote>Jesus and the disciples are at the <a href="https://1roadtraveled.blogspot.com/search/label/Last%20Night" target="_blank">last supper </a>in the upper room. During the meal, Jesus makes this astonishing prediction. Someone is going to betray him.</div><div><br /></div><div>The disciples respond with sadness and a guilty question: Is it me? Surely you don't mean me?</div><div><br /></div><div>Not just Judas. Not just Peter. ALL of them began to say one after the other, Is it me? </div><div><br /></div><div>Each one reacts to Jesus' prediction with the instant though, "How does he know?"</div><div><br /></div><div>He knows because he knew their hearts. And he knows your heart and my heart. </div><div><br /></div><div>He knows your heart. He knows that one thing that distracts you most from him. That one thing that most tempts you to betray him or deny him. </div><div><br /></div><div>Who is it? </div><div><blockquote>Jesus replied, “The one who has dipped his hand into the bowl with me will betray me.”
Matthew 26:23 </blockquote></div>We usually interpret that statement to refer to a specific person whose hand is actually dipping bread alongside Jesus, hand. But the phrase essentially means “the one who shares this supper with me” <div><br /></div><div>During the Passover meal, there was a common load of unleavened bread that each person tore a piece from. And there was a common bowl they all dipped their bread into. </div><div><br /></div><div>Many have often wondered why the rest of the disciples didn't see Judas dip his bread alongside Jesus and then overhear the pointed conversation. the two of them had. </div><div><br /></div><div>Could it be they were all so self-absorbed with the knowledge of their own guilt that they weren't paying attention to anyone else?</div><div><br /></div><div>I often have to consciously get my focus out of my own swirl of thoughts when I'm picking up rideshare passengers. I remind myself it's more than a job. It's an opportunity to share a few moments with a stranger, to be salt and light in their world, to encourage them or even challenge them as the opportunity arises. </div><div><br /></div><div>I remind myself that I'm ridesharing, with the focus on the sharing.</div><div><br /></div><div>And that's true for all of us, whatever the job or circumstance. Stop dwelling on yourself and pay attention to the people around you. Be there for them.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2544656220577263817.post-30772531981149121982022-03-17T08:30:00.001-05:002022-03-17T08:43:10.411-05:00All Nature Sings: Rooster Mornings<div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgGOWwL4EhfT4w66c5iRKHVeEVmu0GSsnBktfvZcQRqRrHjIXm6eQ-PwrIfHBIhphuwjGwJ7OOYX9t-z5tl6O_7p3wlsIVJFZtfEneWrp6Z-rXpSietSi7OoIBh_S28fOnjZsZjowDVzX2_5seuJRaCRjW3qsu6fhKQc89OF3indl8cSg3N4e8EdyK1Hw=s996" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="659" data-original-width="996" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgGOWwL4EhfT4w66c5iRKHVeEVmu0GSsnBktfvZcQRqRrHjIXm6eQ-PwrIfHBIhphuwjGwJ7OOYX9t-z5tl6O_7p3wlsIVJFZtfEneWrp6Z-rXpSietSi7OoIBh_S28fOnjZsZjowDVzX2_5seuJRaCRjW3qsu6fhKQc89OF3indl8cSg3N4e8EdyK1Hw=s320" width="320" /></a></div>It was winter break at the University of Missouri and I was with a group of students from the Mizzou Christian Campus House, heading to Mexico for a one-week mission trip. </div><div><br /></div><div>A friend, the campus minister in charge of the trip, had drafted me to be one of the leaders of the group. Mostly I think he needed someone to be one of the drivers for the 20-hour road trip. </div><div><br /></div><div>Two things stick in my mind about that week</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Conversion experience </b></div><div><br /></div><div>First, I experienced what I’ve told people was a true conversion experience during that trip. </div><div><br /></div><div>On the first morning in Mexico I woke up early, no longer able to continue lying in my sleeping bag on the concrete floor of a half-finished church building. We had spent five hours the previous evening getting a head start on the week’s work, physically taxing construction work. My 50 year old body took a full 15 minutes to unlimber and get itself off the floor. </div><div><br /></div><div>Once up, I heard murmured voices from a small room just off the larger assembly hall. I gingerly tiptoed around the dozens of students who were still asleep and walked through a door. </div><div><br /></div><div>The other five of “the old people,” as the students called us, were already awake, sitting on folding chairs, drinking coffee.
I stepped to the coffee pot, grabbed a small Styrofoam cup, and poured myself a drink of black tar. </div><div><br /></div><div>My friend, the group leader, looked at me with wide eyes because he knew I don’t drink coffee. I’ve never even liked the smell of coffee. </div><div><br /></div><div>“Unless you’ve got a cold bottle of Coke hidden in this room,” I said, “I’ll take my caffeine wherever I can find it.”
I drank a cup of coffee every morning that week. On the return trip home I bought the largest cup of gas station coffee I could find at every refueling stop along the way. I was so tired from the long, hard week, I needed all the help I could get for the long drive home. </div><div><br /></div><div>After we finally got back home it was many hours before the accumulated caffeine would allow my body to sleep.
I’ve been a coffee drinker ever since. </div><div><br /></div><div><b>Let them praise the name of the Lord </b></div><div><br /></div><div>The other notable memory from that week began on that same morning. My fellow ‘old people’ were occupying all the available chairs in the small room, so I stepped outside, hoping to unlimber my stiff joints. </div><div><br /></div><div>As the door closed behind me, I emerged into the brisk pre-dawn. The sky was still dark, with only the barest suggestion of light on the eastern horizon. </div><div><br /></div><div>Villa Union is a town of about 6,000 people and what must be around 50,000 chickens. I had noticed the day before that every home surrounding the tiny church had chickens scratching around in the mostly dirt in the yards.
While we had worked on various projects that week, the rooster in the yard next door would emit a bellowing crow every few minutes. His dignity and his feathers were apparently ruffled by all this unexpected activity in his neighborhood. </div><div><br /></div><div>On this first morning, that rooster was not alone in expressing himself.
As the sun prepared to make its daily appearance, every rooster in town was doing what roosters do at dawn. Thousands of them were crying out to the heavens, announcing the approaching dawn. </div><div><br /></div><div>I’m a city boy who had never heard even one rooster crying out the report of a new day. Where I live the new day is announced by an alarm clock and the sound of traffic in the streets. </div><div><br /></div><div><i>Cock-a-doodle-doo</i> doesn’t begin to describe the sound of thousands of chanticleer voices echoing together. It was an unbroken wall of sound, filling the night air. </div><div><br /></div><div>I was stunned, poleaxed, my jaw dropping. I looked up into the sky, tears forming in my eyes at the wonder of such a thing. </div><div><br /></div><div>The blending of the reverberating voices reminded me of the echoing voices of monks singing Gregorian chants. I’m not a Catholic but I own several CDs of chants. I find them relaxing and uplifting. Because I don’t understand the Latin words, the monks voices are like the purest praise. </div><div><br /></div><div>Like the monks’ chorale, the song of the rooster multitude put me in mind of what it must have been like for the shepherds to hear the voices of a host of angels praising God, echoing the news of the Savior’s birth across the hillsides.
Just as the angels were designed to be God’s messengers, the roosters were faithfully fulfilling the role for which God had created them. The choir of feathered callers were using their God-given talents to sing the praises of the God who gave them their voices. </div><div><br /></div><div>I walked around the yard, my hands lifted toward the heavens, tears streaming down my eyes. I joined in with the roosters, praising God for the new day in this strange land. </div><div><br /></div><div>When the first of the sleepy students wandered out of the church building, they found me standing in the middle of the construction site, my arms raised toward the heavens, welcoming the sunrise. The roosters’ hallelujah chorus was all but finished. </div><div><br /></div><div>I’m not sure the students believed me when I told them what they’d missed, but some of them got up earlier later in the week and welcomed the dawn with me. And thousands of roosters. </div><div><br /></div><div>Praise the Lord, all ye roosters. And praise the Lord everyone.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2544656220577263817.post-44134334843637049682022-03-09T10:00:00.041-06:002023-05-31T12:43:42.671-05:00The Cost of Air<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjdAeUaInVEL2wC0VDnDk0y-my5qym4TiXNZEDPvger_Wd4g3_E7gASTgxyWV59A49Sdi7M73g0PJ3-kP4DC_6JT1oy77q5g5vbr5bep2bAM4HON9sBUD1gTr_oFhrDQ3x0RvU4Du0zZvZPwwDsTKXwC40BsPZxNykwETFpl24WucgeZS9ZRD0nJziAHA=s218" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="218" data-original-width="205" height="218" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjdAeUaInVEL2wC0VDnDk0y-my5qym4TiXNZEDPvger_Wd4g3_E7gASTgxyWV59A49Sdi7M73g0PJ3-kP4DC_6JT1oy77q5g5vbr5bep2bAM4HON9sBUD1gTr_oFhrDQ3x0RvU4Du0zZvZPwwDsTKXwC40BsPZxNykwETFpl24WucgeZS9ZRD0nJziAHA" width="205" /></a></div>My Rideshare passenger was a student, a young man who lived in an apartment complex where I generally expected to pick up international students. He wasn't.<p></p><p></p><p>The app told me this would be a multi-destination trip, the first being the Walgreens store downtown. I assumed the additional destination would be to return him back home, as was often the case with Walgreens trips. It was. </p><p>Until it wasn't.</p><p>I backed into a parking spot while he went inside. Less than five minutes later he returned, with no purchase in his hands.</p><p> "They didn't have it!" he exclaimed. "But they suggested I try Office Depot." And he looked at me hopefully, since Office Depot was not one of his multiple destinations.</p><p>"Office Depot is right behind Walgreens," I offered. "I can just take you back there. No need to change the trip details for that." And off we went.</p><p>As we pulled in to the almost entirely empty Office Depot parking lot, I asked him what he was searching for.</p><p>"A can of air. The kind you spray to clean your computer."</p><p>He left the car to go look for air in Office Depot, while I wondered why he had thought Walgreen's might be the first choice to buy a can of air. And then my eye caught the sign on the front window of Office Depot: "STORE CLOSING: Final Two Days"</p><p>It wasn't long before the young man returned, again without any purchase visible. Apparently there was nothing left in Office Depot to purchase other than shelving and fixtures.</p><p>He asked me where I thought he could find his can of air, and I suggested Walmart, which had seemed to me the obvious first choice all along. So he added a destination to his app and off we went to Walmart, three miles and 12 minutes away. </p><p>He found his can of air at Walmart and we went back to his apartment.</p><p>The trip all together was a little over 9 miles, taking about 45 minutes, including the time I spent waiting for him in parking lots. His charge for that trip was nearly $50. </p><p>For a can of air that cost $9.</p><p>For the moment let's set aside the absurdity of a modern world that considers it normal - even necessary - to buy a spray can filled with nothing but air. </p><p>For his purposes, for the efficient running of his computer, than can of air was a treasure worth spending more than a family of four might spend on a meal at McDonalds.</p><blockquote>The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field. </blockquote><blockquote>Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it. </blockquote><blockquote>Matthew 13:44-46</blockquote>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2544656220577263817.post-58721420461070289022021-04-05T08:30:00.111-05:002021-04-05T08:30:01.464-05:00Psalm 90 - Lament for the Unintentional LifePsalm 90 was written by Moses, a man who lived three lives: 40 years as a favored member of Pharaoh’s household, 40 years as a shepherd in a wilderness, and 40 years as the leader of a nation wandering for decades in another wilderness. <div><br /></div><div>A month or two ago my wife an I were discussing life insurance, because I was starting a new job and filling out endless forms to select the benefits I want. We recalled that during our 20s we, along with some of our idealistic friends, we pretty sure that insurance – especially life insurance – was a form of gambling, and that it might be better if we all just trust in God. </div><div><br /></div><div>Of course, even in the midst of those conversations, I had already signed up for the life insurance offered by my employer. I had made the choice to roll the dice that I was going to need it someday. I knew then that my body was full of a wide variety of abnormalities and frailties, and I really didn’t expect to live even to the age of 50. </div><div><br /></div><div>Now, at the age of 64, we were discussing whether to sign up to pay a very small amount out of each paycheck for a life insurance policy that will expire at 70. The conversation was really not much different than examining the odds to lay down a Super Bowl bet. </div><div><br /></div><div>My parents both lived into their early 80s. My brothers, both older than me, died at 49 and 56. But I’ve lived a healthier life than either of my brothers did.
But in spite of that, I’ve already had one heart attack, which none of them did. And I’ve got enough stuff wrong with me now that I qualified as extremely high risk if I were to catch the COVID-19.
<br /><br /><br />
One of the truest lines ever written in a song is found in the chorus of Andrew Peterson's <a href="https://youtu.be/jKPvozXnzPw" target="_blank">Faith to Be Strong</a>: <div><i></i></div><blockquote><div><i>Give us faith to be strong, Give us strength to be faithful; </i></div><div><i> This life is not long, but it's hard; </i></div><div><i>Give us grace to go on, Make us willing and able; </i></div><div><i> Lord, give us faith to be strong</i></div></blockquote><div><i></i> "This life is not long, but it's hard."</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>
In Moses’ lament, he agrees wholeheartedly with Andrew Peterson. </div><div><br /></div><div>The shortness and frailty of our lives is God-ordained. </div><div></div><blockquote><div>3 You turn people back to dust,
saying, “Return to dust, you mortals.” </div><div>4 A thousand years in your sight
are like a day that has just gone by,
or like a watch in the night. </div><div>5 Yet you sweep people away in the sleep of death—
they are like the new grass of the morning: </div><div>6 In the morning it springs up new,
but by evening it is dry and withered. </div></blockquote><p>Our limited years are weighted down by the guilt we carry and stalked by the judgment of our God. </p><blockquote><div>7 We are consumed by your anger
and terrified by your indignation. </div><div>8 You have set our iniquities before you,
our secret sins in the light of your presence. </div><div>9 All our days pass away under your wrath;
we finish our years with a moan. </div></blockquote><div></div><div>Moses lived 120 years, most of them surviving in one wilderness after another. He had good reason to know how painstakingly hard life can be. </div><div><blockquote>10 Our days may come to seventy years,
or eighty, if our strength endures;
yet the best of them are but trouble and sorrow,
for they quickly pass, and we fly away. </blockquote></div><div>Moses' lament is not over the difficulties of life or the wrath of God or over the shortness of life. His greatest lament is over our failure to rise above life’s troubles and live each day seeking the heart of God. </div><div></div><blockquote><div>11 If only we knew the power of your anger!
Your wrath is as great as the fear that is your due. </div><div>12 Teach us to number our days,
that we may gain a heart of wisdom. </div></blockquote><div></div><div>He begins and ends his psalm of lament with the keys to a life worth living. </div><div><br /></div><div>The best life is lived not in our homes or in our neighborhoods or in our careers. The best place to settle in for the long haul of life is in God himself. </div><div><br /></div><div>Throughout most of the scriptures, the combination of <i>God </i>and <i>dwelling place</i> refers to the place where <i>he </i>dwells, in heaven. But here, the greatest dwelling place we can hope for is not heaven, but within the arms of the Almighty. </div><div></div><blockquote><div>1 Lord, you have been our dwelling place
throughout all generations. </div><div>2 Before the mountains were born
or you brought forth the whole world,
from everlasting to everlasting you are God. </div></blockquote><div></div><div>If our intentional, numbered days are spent seeking God’s heart, walking along beside him, he will grant us joy as we travel. Each numbered day will be a pleasure, even while we are afflicted, because we are living for Him. If the work of our lives reflects the work of our Lord, he will make our work something worth everything that makes it hard. </div><div></div><blockquote><div>13 Relent, LORD! How long will it be?
Have compassion on your servants. </div><div>14 Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love,
that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days. </div><div>15 Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us,
for as many years as we have seen trouble. </div><div>16 May your deeds be shown to your servants,
your splendor to their children. </div><div>17 May the favor of the Lord our God rest on us;
establish the work of our hands for us—
yes, establish the work of our hands. </div></blockquote><div></div><div>It’s troubling to think I might have only a handful of numbered days or years left in this world. I don’t want to leave my family, my friends, the small joys and pleasures of this life.
And there’s more work I’ve yet to do for God to establish. More days to walk with him and talk with him all along life’s way.</div><div><br /></div><div>Oh Lord, how long will it be? Have compassion on me, your servant, and on the people who rely on me. And lead me each day to be your servant in everything I do.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2544656220577263817.post-64924279831131301812021-03-29T08:30:00.080-05:002021-03-29T08:30:00.787-05:00Psalm 13 - Lament for God's Hidden Face<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1IygBf-Nr0IE70CSNhRK2THG69T3h57peqLBPkdfJ1G0e_w3DHGxDrk-PLFAbieaGYTuncdb4a6Fu6XnWaRZHbp18E29RfnmxxMzp-gYoMXpdm-RvnnAor6Hc0TOsVah8b48Ry8g2cJW-/s2048/lament.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1463" data-original-width="2048" height="286" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1IygBf-Nr0IE70CSNhRK2THG69T3h57peqLBPkdfJ1G0e_w3DHGxDrk-PLFAbieaGYTuncdb4a6Fu6XnWaRZHbp18E29RfnmxxMzp-gYoMXpdm-RvnnAor6Hc0TOsVah8b48Ry8g2cJW-/w400-h286/lament.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><blockquote>1 How long wilt thou forget me, O Lord? for ever? <div> how long wilt thou hide thy face from me? </div><div>2 How long shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart daily?</div><div> how long shall mine enemy be exalted over me? </div><div> 3 Consider and hear me, O Lord my God: </div><div> lighten mine eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death; </div><div>4 Lest mine enemy say, I have prevailed against him; </div><div> and those that trouble me rejoice when I am moved. </div><div>5 But I have trusted in thy mercy; </div><div> my heart shall rejoice in thy salvation. </div><div>6 I will sing unto the Lord, because he hath dealt bountifully with me.</div><div> Psalm 13</div></blockquote><div></div><div>When I was young, one of the bible verses that puzzled me most was Paul's command in I Thessalonians 5:17, "pray without ceasing". How was that even possible to do in a literal sense? And I had been taught that anything other than literal obedience is unacceptable.</div><div><br /></div><div>In the church where I grew up, every verse in the bible was dissected and analyzed to discover the literal meaning. Anything other than literal interpretation and total obedience was denounced as unacceptable.</div><div><br /></div><div>But this was one of many - so many - verses that my teachers and mentors consistently glossed over. It took me awhile to realize the truth, that commands like these made them uncomfortable because they didn't know how to literally obey them.</div><div><br /></div><div>It was only years later, when I began to dwell in the Psalms, that I reached an understanding about unceasing prayer.</div><div><br /></div><div>The Psalmists refer repeatedly to <a href="https://1roadtraveled.blogspot.com/2018/03/psalm-11958-seeking-his-face-seeking.html" target="_blank">seeking the face of God</a>. </div><div><br /></div><div>During the late 1980's I began collecting and reading the entire collection of Louis L'Amour western novels. I could immerse myself in his stories and escape, for a time, from whatever else was weighing on my soul. It took me quite a while to find and read all 89 of his novels.</div><div><br /></div><div>During this time, my son Cody, was born. He demanded my attention even more than Louis L'Amour. </div><div><br /></div><div>Sometimes I'd be sitting and reading a book and Cody would toddle into the room and make a bee-line for me. He'd crawl up into my lap and reach out to pull the paperback book from my hands. Looking at the cover, he'd say, "No cowboy!" and toss the book to the floor.</div><div><br /></div><div>He was seeking my attention, and the best way he knew to do that was to remove the book that stood between us and <i>seek my face</i>.</div><div><br /></div><div>When times are tough, when I feel alone, I seek the face of God. </div><div><br /></div><div>During the long months of the coronavirus pandemic, I've often sought the face of God. And I've often struggled to gain his attention. </div><div><br /></div><div>I know he's there. I know he is aware and watching over me, even when I feel most abandoned. I know this to be true.</div><div><br /></div><div>But I often don't <i>feel </i>his attention on me. </div><div><br /></div><div>All I can do is trust in his mercy, and sing out my thanks to him for the bounty of blessings he has given to me. </div><div><br /></div><div>That last part has been an important habit for me during this dark time. Listening and singing along with my favorite Spotify playlist, <a href="https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6UhRuF3I1crXGsGgczYF2J" target="_blank">Pandemic Praise</a>, compiled by Drew Hill, has been a lifeline for me. It reconnects me and redirects to the face of God.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2544656220577263817.post-2324291784916270052021-03-22T08:30:00.308-05:002023-05-31T12:45:05.881-05:00Psalm 44 - Lament for Lost Direction<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgP6NXbCM1zCEcvgx85xQqzIOnmnv9RNWt9hrHwFIxJw169lJtBxANgFVK9PGGXhiktRMzUaqGj3tTeTtdRL0y8Splk6V9cL4mrQ8E-STRAlVMDUfr62lODSVN2CbvfvbTkucKxJcDpU6bT/s552/lament+2.webp" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="340" data-original-width="552" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgP6NXbCM1zCEcvgx85xQqzIOnmnv9RNWt9hrHwFIxJw169lJtBxANgFVK9PGGXhiktRMzUaqGj3tTeTtdRL0y8Splk6V9cL4mrQ8E-STRAlVMDUfr62lODSVN2CbvfvbTkucKxJcDpU6bT/s320/lament+2.webp" width="320" /></a></div><p></p><blockquote>1 We have heard it with our ears, O God;<br /> our ancestors have told us<br /> what you did in their days,<br /> in days long ago.<br />
2 With your hand you drove out the nations<br /> and planted our ancestors;<br /> you crushed the peoples<br /> and made our ancestors flourish.<br />
3 It was not by their sword that they won the land,<br /> nor did their arm bring them victory;<br /> it was your right hand, your arm,<br /> and the light of your face, for you loved them.<br />
4 You are my King and my God,<br /> who decrees victories for Jacob.<br />
5 Through you we push back our enemies;<br /> through your name we trample our foes.<br />
6 I put no trust in my bow,<br /> my sword does not bring me victory;<br />
7 but you give us victory over our enemies,<br /> you put our adversaries to shame.<br />
8 In God we make our boast all day long,<br /> and we will praise your name forever.<br /><br /><b>Psalm 44:1-8</b></blockquote><br />I spent four years earning a bible college degree in Christian Ministry, but then I would never make Christian ministry my full-time profession. She talked her parents into paying for her training as a state-certified cosmetologist, which she pursued as a profession for only a few months. In both cases, we were distracted and redirected into other careers and other ministries. Sometimes we felt a little guilty for not sticking with the plan. <p></p><p>But my bible college degree has been invaluable to me in the many and varied volunteer ministry activities I've been involved in: teaching, preaching, counseling, small group leadership, church leadership, foster parenting, prison ministry, and even rideshare driving.</p><p>And her months in that cosmetology school was a crash course in what worldly people are really like, far from the relatively sheltered world in which she had grown up.</p><p>My career in the hospital supply chain taught me the same thing - to understand the real world of non-isolated non-believers. </p><p>Our involvement with the Mizzou Christian Campus House played a part in introducing us to foster parenting, which flung open the door to a view of life in a world beyond anything we'd experienced before. The combination of dealing with a state bureaucracy and the unbelievably messy lives of the extended families of foster children blew our minds and broadened our perspective and insight into God's activities in the world.</p><p>And then came a decade and a half jumping hip deep into prison ministry every Monday night. It was easy to see how God had been preparing us all through those years to be effective in reaching out to women who had fallen off the edge of their world and hit rock bottom. The bible college education, the varied venues and audiences for teaching and counseling, and the intimate atmosphere of small group discipleship. The lifelong sojourn from one rental neighborhood to another, leading to the trial by fire of interacting with neighbors who abused their wives, lived in poverty, and dealt in drugs and violence. The heart-ripping experiences of foster parenting, and the tough years of watching our sons wander through the ways of the world. Interacting with so many of their family and friends who were living on the edge of the line between what we thought of as normal and the world thought of as criminal.</p><p>We were at a loss so many times. But we learned that God's call for us was to be there and say "Yes", to whatever and whoever he chose to put in our path. And that it all had been preparing us for the greatest experience of our lives, in that prison chapel.</p>
<blockquote>9 But now you have rejected and humbled us;<br /> you no longer go out with our armies.<br />
10 You made us retreat before the enemy,<br /> and our adversaries have plundered us.<br />
11 You gave us up to be devoured like sheep<br /> and have scattered us among the nations.<br />
12 You sold your people for a pittance,<br /> gaining nothing from their sale.<br />
13 You have made us a reproach to our neighbors,<br /> the scorn and derision of those around us.<br />
14 You have made us a byword among the nations;<br /> the peoples shake their heads at us.<br />
15 I live in disgrace all day long,<br /> and my face is covered with shame<br />
16 at the taunts of those who reproach and revile me,<br /> because of the enemy, who is bent on revenge.</blockquote>
<p><b> Psalm 44:9-16</b></p><p>But now, where have You brought us to? </p><p>The prison ministry is no more. We couldn't physically keep doing it all ourselves, and the Campus House decided it was no longer a priority. So, not only is it no longer the highlight of our week and our very lives, the prison ministry that meant so much to Roy Weece is no longer part of the Christian Campus House ministry.</p><p>The small group that meant so much to our lives also fizzled out around the same time. And our children grew up - in more ways than one - and were no longer central in our ministry lives.</p><p>And so we've sat and wondered what's next, with nothing showing on the horizon. Our ministry opportunities have become smaller. Me with occasional conversations with rideshare passengers and co-workers at the office; she shepherding her piano students and their families. We have a new small group, which has been a blessing.</p><p>We know - yes we know - that many Christians don't even do that much and never miss it, leaving them hungry for things they don't even comprehend. But for us, it's been like losing whole limbs.</p><p>And then, Lord, and then... 2020. Isolated at home because we're both high risk for the virus. Isolated from the co-workers and the rideshare passengers and the casual living room conversations with piano families and small group friends. </p><p>On top of all that, I've been laid off from my job. Separated from the career I chose instead of the one I went to bible college for. Months searching for another job, in a pandemic job market. A 63 year old man who can only work remote jobs is not in great demand. Not in any demand.</p><p>My rational mind tells me otherwise, but my emotions live in disgrace all day long, and my face is covered in shame at the taunts of Imposter Syndrome, and second-guessing all those choices driven by fear and the heart of renegades, even as they were driven by divine urging.</p><p>
</p><blockquote>17 All this came upon us,<br /> though we had not forgotten you;<br /> we had not been false to your covenant.<br />
18 Our hearts had not turned back;<br /> our feet had not strayed from your path.<br />
19 But you crushed us and made us a haunt for jackals;<br /> you covered us over with deep darkness.<br />
20 If we had forgotten the name of our God<br /> or spread out our hands to a foreign god,<br />
21 would not God have discovered it,<br /> since he knows the secrets of the heart?<br />
22 Yet for your sake we face death all day long;<br /> we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.<br /><br /><b>Psalm 44:17-22</b></blockquote><p></p><p>And here we are, with all this come upon us. And yet, we have not forgotten you. We run ourselves in circles trying to remind ourselves there must be a plan. We've never known where you were leading us. </p><p>Our hearts have not turned back; our feet have not strayed from your path, even when we have no clue where the path even is. </p><p></p><blockquote>23 Awake, Lord! Why do you sleep?<br /> Rouse yourself! Do not reject us forever.<br />
24 Why do you hide your face<br /> and forget our misery and oppression?<br />
25 We are brought down to the dust;<br /> our bodies cling to the ground.<br />
26 Rise up and help us;<br /> rescue us because of your unfailing love.</blockquote><b> Psalm 44:23-26</b>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2544656220577263817.post-40229776194852267762021-03-15T08:30:00.238-05:002021-03-15T08:30:01.930-05:00Psalm 12 - Lament for the Lying Tongues<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxzOFBEjRXHpNvPR7b47S9DWmNyshl8_GpfW-VSnAZe_r2LtwtNTnEq9JIdku7OBTNdKmPLpzN7OLY_YkHk63ZYXo04aiv5yTcxvcNP5FhcrBoL9Vm4OUPj0gSkJ2oScTkgepUQa5KgBzU/s475/lament1.webp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="340" data-original-width="475" height="286" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxzOFBEjRXHpNvPR7b47S9DWmNyshl8_GpfW-VSnAZe_r2LtwtNTnEq9JIdku7OBTNdKmPLpzN7OLY_YkHk63ZYXo04aiv5yTcxvcNP5FhcrBoL9Vm4OUPj0gSkJ2oScTkgepUQa5KgBzU/w400-h286/lament1.webp" width="400" /></a></div><br /><blockquote>1 Help, LORD, for no one is faithful anymore;<br /> those who are loyal have vanished from the human race.<br />
2 Everyone lies to their neighbor;<br /> they flatter with their lips<br /> but harbor deception in their hearts.<br />
3 May the LORD silence all flattering lips<br /> and every boastful tongue—<br />
4 those who say,<br /> “By our tongues we will prevail;<br /> our own lips will defend us—who is lord over us?”<br />
5 “Because the poor are plundered and the needy groan,<br /> I will now arise,” says the LORD.<br /> “I will protect them from those who malign them.”<br />
6 And the words of the LORD are flawless,<br /> like silver purified in a crucible,<br /> like gold refined seven times.<br />
7 You, LORD, will keep the needy safe<br /> and will protect us forever from the wicked,<br />
8 who freely strut about<br /> when what is vile is honored by the human race.<br /> <br />Psalm 12</blockquote><div><br /><div>My lament begins and ends with a plea to the Lord, the source of truth, the embodiment of truth, the One who requires those who would follow Him to stand for truth.</div><div><br /></div><div>Jesus, on His last night before facing betrayal and death, didn't allow the pressures and the politics surrounding Him to alter His grasp on True Truth. </div><div><blockquote>"I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me." John 14:6</blockquote></div><blockquote>"When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come." John 16:13</blockquote><div><blockquote>"Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth." John 17:17</blockquote></div><div>But today, even among the people who are called by His name, True Truth is a scarce commodity.</div><div><br /></div><div>God's people appear more devoted to their daily scroll through their social media feeds than to their daily discipline of meditating on the Word. Tweeting and commenting and sharing memes without ceasing have overtaken prayer as the constant companion of the Christian. </div><div><br /></div><div>In the late 20th Century we were warned by our preachers and teachers and thinkers about the creeping approach of Postmodernism as the dominant philosophy about life and truth. Just two decades into the new century, we've swallowed whole the lying lips of postmodernism. There's my truth and your truth, politically correct truth and politically expedient truth. Rather than the truth that passes understanding, we've embraced rumors and conspiracies that pass for truth, but are beyond the understanding of people who seek True Truth.</div><div><br /></div><div>Where is True Truth to be found? How is it to be nurtured and trained? Where are the roots of truth?</div><div><br /></div><div>1) God's truth will always be rooted in God's mission. </div><div><blockquote>"Because the poor are plundered and the needy groan, I will now arise," says the Lord. "I will protect them from those who malign them." Psalm 12:5</blockquote></div><div>Any version of truth that doesn't reflect the heart of God isn't God's truth. To seek God's truth, seek the work he has prepared for you to do.</div><div><br /></div><div>2) God's truth has been tested and purified. </div><blockquote>And the words of the LORD are flawless,
like silver purified in a crucible,
like gold refined seven times. Psalm 12:6</blockquote><div>It doesn't change with the times, but it speaks truth into the postmodern world. It doesn't adapt to the slick lies of the enemies of God. </div><div><br /></div><div>Lord, keep your people safe, keep your church focused on those who need your love and your help, rather than on themselves.</div><div><br /></div><div>Hold us back from modeling ourselves after the wicked, freely strutting about with our endless opinions and contentious arguments defining who we are. Teach us to honor True Truth rather than constructing our own version of vile lies.</div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2544656220577263817.post-78752429450509898012021-03-08T08:30:00.219-06:002021-03-08T08:30:02.445-06:00Psalm 37:39-40 Salvation comes from the Lord<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinS9GaOcEGCVtvQofZmGWQonbT0_q7n5BJ6pUyfIIV5a5srINpgqxQA6PnjaM3Ib9ujx1FB_Wb7jE6esqoJWCvM_-pAGHKgXXJMYN_TylVdt22MUbd6uB8FJqVXPY_er_4vgkVuFZhGMqT/s320/wept.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="320" data-original-width="240" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinS9GaOcEGCVtvQofZmGWQonbT0_q7n5BJ6pUyfIIV5a5srINpgqxQA6PnjaM3Ib9ujx1FB_Wb7jE6esqoJWCvM_-pAGHKgXXJMYN_TylVdt22MUbd6uB8FJqVXPY_er_4vgkVuFZhGMqT/w300-h400/wept.jpg" width="300" /></a></div><br /><div>During the single day in which I've been working on this final blogpost in the series on Psalm 37, I've encountered all of the following approaches used by believers to respond to/protect themselves/defend themselves/go on the attack against the people and forces they see as being wicked/unrighteous/enemies of the church:</div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Countless shares and retweets of memes or stories portraying the so-called Mainstream Media as intentionally trying to misrepresent the truth and spread fake news while failing to adequately cover not-fake news. Our salvation will come, apparently, from making the right choices about which media sources to trust to agree with us.<br /><br /></li><li>An alarming shared-post on Facebook about how if you type in a certain extremist web address it automatically will take you to a leading presidential candidate's website. Apparently, our salvation will come by making sure we're not <a href="https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Rick%20Roll" target="_blank">rick rolled</a> by the enemies of all that is pure and good in America. <br /><br /></li><li>A weekly (at least) appearance of yet another meme declaring the vital importance of possessing not only guns, but semi-automatic firearms, to protect us all against the people who are out to get us (including the government, who , of course, is out to get our guns). Our salvation, they would have us believe, lies in the carnal weapons of our warfare.<br /><br /></li><li>Another shared meme, this one with the alarming statement that "Any teacher that is indoctrinating our children to hate America should be fired." A commenter asked what seemed a logical question: "Do you know of any that are?" The response: None firsthand. But I'm sure there are some in more liberal areas of the country." Our salvation, it would seem, comes from stirring up fear about something we think maybe somewhere the people who we think might be our enemies are perhaps teaching something anti-American to our children.<br /><br /></li><li>Endless arguments for and against mask wearing, for and against various treatments for the coronavirus, for and against government-imposed restrictions aimed at controlling the spread of the pandemic. Nearly all of them ignoring what scientific experts advise, in favor of a particular philosophical or political approach to a medical issue. Could it be our salvation comes from holding the right opinions about the pandemic and reviling those who hold opposing opinions?<br /><br /></li><li>Christian ministers who are entrusted to mentor children, high school students, college students, international students, and new Christians toward a deeper commitment to the Lord and his mission - putting more energy into posting inflammatory political statements and memes of questionable accuracy and origin, all aimed at belittling and defaming people who they oppose politically but who also need to be mentored toward a deeper relationship with the Lord. It makes me wonder if these ministers believe the salvation of liberals, Democrats, protesters, and people who feel oppressed will come from being defamed by God's people.</li></ul></div><div> </div><div>Psalm 37 began with David's warning to not fret, to not burn with anger, to not be selfishly envious of the wicked and unrighteous people we see in the world around us. </div><div><br /></div><div>He goes on to recommend a long list of better responses the people of God can display for the watching world:</div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Trust in the Lord</li><li>Do good for the Lord</li><li>Dwell in the land</li><li>Delight in the Lord</li><li>Commit your way to the Lord</li><li>Be still before the Lord</li><li>Wait patiently for the Lord</li><li>Don't focus on schemes</li><li>Refrain from anger</li><li>Turn away from wrath</li><li>Hope in the Lord</li><li>Laugh with the Lord</li><li>Draw your sword for the Lord</li><li>Be generous for the Lord</li><li>Speak wisdom and justice for the Lord</li><li>Keep the Lord's way</li><li>Seek peace for the Lord</li></ul></div><div><br /></div><div>Why? Because salvation - for us and for them - comes from the Lord.</div><div><br /></div><div><i></i><blockquote><i>The salvation of the righteous comes from the Lord;<br />he is their stronghold in time of trouble. <br />The Lord helps them and delivers them; <br />he delivers them from the wicked and saves them,<br />because they take refuge in him.</i><br />Psalm 37:39-40</blockquote></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2544656220577263817.post-86959098085798464942021-03-01T08:30:00.016-06:002021-03-01T08:30:00.570-06:00Psalm 37:37 Seek Peace for the Lord<p><span face="" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span face="" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7EWGGSphyphenhyphens2WQJBCHJF7dhS3CwCJCTsullmYl7Lpf0YPDkSMyjLnTIqkGLmXceufi7iJhcDh0xQE21uNFjy5349p-aEYN_ohHU1p-U8sgbbc75QmZY2z0P-N9G8k5WO6BxfDTDc4wJjTS/s800/baby-on-white-knit-hammock.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="454" data-original-width="800" height="227" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7EWGGSphyphenhyphens2WQJBCHJF7dhS3CwCJCTsullmYl7Lpf0YPDkSMyjLnTIqkGLmXceufi7iJhcDh0xQE21uNFjy5349p-aEYN_ohHU1p-U8sgbbc75QmZY2z0P-N9G8k5WO6BxfDTDc4wJjTS/w400-h227/baby-on-white-knit-hammock.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div><p></p><p><span face="" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"></span></p><blockquote><i><span face="" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Consider the blameless,</span><span face="" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span face="" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">observe the upright;</span></i><span class="indent-1" face="" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span class="indent-1-breaks" style="font-family: monospace; font-size: 0.42em; line-height: 0;"><i> <br /></i></span><span class="text Ps-37-37" style="position: relative;"><i>a future awaits those who seek peace</i>. <br />Psalm 37:37</span></span></blockquote><span class="indent-1" face="" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span class="text Ps-37-37" style="position: relative;"></span></span><p></p>
The politics of peace can be complicated, prompting a lot of disagreement and even more labeling.<br />
<br />
Are you a hawk or a dove? An isolationist or an interventionist? Do you favor diplomacy or confrontation? Appeasement or bullying? Unilateral disarmament or mutually assured destruction? America First or a global perspective? Or perhaps something in between those choices or way outside the box?<br />
<br />
Or are you a peacemaker?<br />
<br />
Regardless of your stance or the opinion of whomever you're talking to about politics, is your first impulse to be a peacemaker? Or are you an argument instigator? The guy who always has to put in his two cents. Or the girl who always has to have the last word. Or, worst of all, are you a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_troll">troll</a>?<br />
<br />
Or maybe you're the one who is quick to turn a conversation into a debate and then into a full fledged fight. All because, of course, you believe so strongly in the right-ness of your opinions. Forget the righteousness of peacemaking, you're going to make your point and you're not going to quit until you've either convinced your opponent or they run from you in fear.<br />
<br />
Being a peacemaker is harder than being a troublemaker. To stir up trouble in any discussion, all you have to do is react, countering every statement with one of your own, answering every claim with a counter-claim, every spin with a counter-spin.<br />
<br />
Being a peacemaker requires not reacting with the jerk of a knee, but instead intentionally responding from the depths of your carefully tended heart.<br />
<br />
You've been putting down deep roots into the Word of God. You've been investing intense hours on your knees, struggling with the difference between your personal desires and the things God loves, between your opinions and God's priorities. And you've come through it with a changed heart, one that always and only wants to peacefully pursue His mission, That mission is to share His <a href="http://www.soulshepherding.org/2013/05/dallas-willards-definitions/">shalom</a> - "a rest of will that comes from divine assurance about how things will turn out" (<a href="http://www.soulshepherding.org/2013/05/dallas-willards-definitions/">Dallas Willard</a>) - with every person in every situation in every season.<br />
<br />
Even in political season.<br />
<blockquote>
Where do you think all these appalling wars and quarrels come from? Do you think they just happen? Think again. They come about because you want your own way, and fight for it deep inside yourselves. You lust for what you don’t have and are willing to kill to get it. You want what isn’t yours and will risk violence to get your hands on it.<br />
...<br />
Don’t bad-mouth each other, friends. It’s God’s Word, his Message, his Royal Rule, that takes a beating in that kind of talk. You’re supposed to be honoring the Message, not writing graffiti all over it. (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=James+4&version=MSG">James 4:1-2, 11-12, The Message</a>)</blockquote>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2544656220577263817.post-76083922812302286682021-02-22T20:44:00.027-06:002021-02-22T20:44:00.462-06:00Psalm 37:34 Keep the Lord's way<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiICVXC-RIJjPs6hR_P58ebJ0eiDiuX3Lx9h8hwsAMBzqzlJ6Mm_fy9tTLEvJLJuIVd1OWKy99tupz-KNmybDyFVnJC-ILkNR_hGBdHL7MwscDXz1hhOxuyAGotUskFu_yeTVglzOBE0RE/s970/one+way.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="464" data-original-width="970" height="191" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiICVXC-RIJjPs6hR_P58ebJ0eiDiuX3Lx9h8hwsAMBzqzlJ6Mm_fy9tTLEvJLJuIVd1OWKy99tupz-KNmybDyFVnJC-ILkNR_hGBdHL7MwscDXz1hhOxuyAGotUskFu_yeTVglzOBE0RE/w400-h191/one+way.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div></div><div><br /></div><blockquote class="tr_bq" style="background-color: white; font-family: "times new roman", times, freeserif, serif; font-size: 17.6px;"><i>"You know the way to the place where I am going.”</i> </blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq" style="background-color: white; font-family: "times new roman", times, freeserif, serif; font-size: 17.6px;"><i>Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?” </i> </blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq" style="background-color: white; font-family: "times new roman", times, freeserif, serif; font-size: 17.6px;"><i>Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.” I John 14:4-7</i></blockquote><p><span face="" style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-size: 17.6px;">John 13-17 is the record of Jesus' conversation with his disciples on his <a href="https://1roadtraveled.blogspot.com/search/label/Last%20Night" target="_blank">last night</a> with them about his plans and purpose for the Church after his departure. It's important that we understand</span><i style="font-family: "times new roman", times, freeserif, serif; font-size: 17.6px;"> the way and the truth and the life</i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-size: 17.6px;"> within that context.</span><br style="font-family: "times new roman", times, freeserif, serif; font-size: 17.6px;" /><br style="font-family: "times new roman", times, freeserif, serif; font-size: 17.6px;" /><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-size: 17.6px;">As with nearly every scripture verse outside the book of Proverbs, this statement wasn't dropped into the evening's conversation like a tweet on the @12Disciples Twitter feed.</span><br style="font-family: "times new roman", times, freeserif, serif; font-size: 17.6px;" /><br style="font-family: "times new roman", times, freeserif, serif; font-size: 17.6px;" /><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-size: 17.6px;">Jesus is answering a question, one posed by the disciples' designated doubter, Thomas.</span><br style="font-family: "times new roman", times, freeserif, serif; font-size: 17.6px;" /><br style="font-family: "times new roman", times, freeserif, serif; font-size: 17.6px;" /><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-size: 17.6px;">After Jesus says, "You know the way to the place where I am going," I picture each of the disciples looking sideways at the others, checking to see if everyone else is confused. They maybe look at Peter to see if he's going to pop off and say something stupid again. But Peter still has a glazed look in his eyes, his head cocked to the side as though he's listening hard to see if there's a rooster crowing somewhere.</span><br style="font-family: "times new roman", times, freeserif, serif; font-size: 17.6px;" /><br style="font-family: "times new roman", times, freeserif, serif; font-size: 17.6px;" /><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-size: 17.6px;">Finally someone elbows Thomas and an involuntary yelp escapes his lips. When Jesus and everyone else looks at him, Thomas can't help but letting the yelp become the question in his head.</span><br style="font-family: "times new roman", times, freeserif, serif; font-size: 17.6px;" /></span></p><blockquote class="tr_bq" style="background-color: white; font-family: "times new roman", times, freeserif, serif; font-size: 17.6px;"><i>“Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?” </i> </blockquote><p><span face="" style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-size: 17.6px;">I've heard a boat load of sermons and read a truck load of books and articles and blog posts analyzing Jesus' reply, "I am the way and the truth and the life." Most of those, in my opinion, stretch this simple statement far beyond Jesus' intent.</span><br style="font-family: "times new roman", times, freeserif, serif; font-size: 17.6px;" /><br style="font-family: "times new roman", times, freeserif, serif; font-size: 17.6px;" /><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-size: 17.6px;">Jesus doesn't say this:</span><br style="font-family: "times new roman", times, freeserif, serif; font-size: 17.6px;" /></span></p><blockquote class="tr_bq" style="background-color: white; font-family: "times new roman", times, freeserif, serif; font-size: 17.6px;">In order to go where I'm going, here's a list of things you need to do: You need to do everything the <i>way</i> I've done them; you need to know all the <i>truths</i> I've taught; you need to live your <i>life</i> like I lived mine.</blockquote><p><span face="" style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-size: 17.6px;">Followers of Jesus will most certainly be blessed if they seek to imitate his way, his truth, and his life. But that isn't the way to the Father.</span><br style="font-family: "times new roman", times, freeserif, serif; font-size: 17.6px;" /><br style="font-family: "times new roman", times, freeserif, serif; font-size: 17.6px;" /><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-size: 17.6px;">Jesus IS the way. There's no other route or plan to reconcile with the Father than through Jesus. Just as football coaches like to say, "the road to the championship goes through </span><u style="font-family: "times new roman", times, freeserif, serif; font-size: 17.6px;">fill in the blank with your team's location</u><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-size: 17.6px;">, Jesus says the way to the Father goes through him. There's no alternate route, like Google maps likes to give us. Any other way won't get you to God.</span><br style="font-family: "times new roman", times, freeserif, serif; font-size: 17.6px;" /><br style="font-family: "times new roman", times, freeserif, serif; font-size: 17.6px;" /><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-size: 17.6px;">Jesus IS the truth. He is the embodiment of the truth about the Father. There's no other way to truly know God without knowing Jesus.</span><br style="font-family: "times new roman", times, freeserif, serif; font-size: 17.6px;" /><br style="font-family: "times new roman", times, freeserif, serif; font-size: 17.6px;" /><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-size: 17.6px;">Jesus IS the life. As he told Martha, "I am the resurrection and the life." The only way to live the abundant life and eternal life God intends for us is to receive that life from Jesus. On this last night, Jesus knows he is about to seal that part of the deal once and for all, by defeating death.</span><br style="font-family: "times new roman", times, freeserif, serif; font-size: 17.6px;" /><br style="font-family: "times new roman", times, freeserif, serif; font-size: 17.6px;" /><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-size: 17.6px;">Any other interpretation of "I am the way and the truth and the life" inevitably puts the focus on our own effort and away from Jesus. He is the author and the finisher of our faith.</span></span></p><p><span face="" style="background-color: white;"></span></p><blockquote><i><span face="" style="background-color: white;">Hope in the</span><span face="" style="background-color: white;"> </span><span class="small-caps" face="" style="font-variant-caps: small-caps; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal;">Lord </span><span style="background-color: white;">and keep his way.<br /></span><span style="background-color: white;">He will exalt you to inherit the land;<span style="font-family: monospace;"><br /></span></span></i><span class="text Ps-37-34" style="position: relative;"><i>when the wicked are destroyed, you will see it</i>.<br />Psalm 37:34</span></blockquote>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2544656220577263817.post-84272570542174180372021-02-08T09:00:00.007-06:002021-02-08T09:00:00.310-06:00Psalm 37:30-31 Speak wisdom and justice for the Lord<p><span style="background-color: white;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBWq4IZaMXYxxAcu4NdhkJ8Z2fDSNzeyRC59-NP0CWCme1k14gwenlXuimp5jdp2Dpa-EznFAVYHhkEdqMlEE9vXLrXY1nEtaTlGQClpYkTUrzX5xIqoLx2B2G6qBmVr_MeSy0xpTBfD5l/s2048/soldier.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2047" data-original-width="2048" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBWq4IZaMXYxxAcu4NdhkJ8Z2fDSNzeyRC59-NP0CWCme1k14gwenlXuimp5jdp2Dpa-EznFAVYHhkEdqMlEE9vXLrXY1nEtaTlGQClpYkTUrzX5xIqoLx2B2G6qBmVr_MeSy0xpTBfD5l/w320-h320/soldier.jpeg" width="320" /></a></span></div><span style="background-color: white;"><br />In the 21st century, likes and retweets and thumbs-up have become among the most valuable coins in our constant jockeying for status in the public sphere. Nothing makes an online commenter feel better than to have someone reply with, "This guy/girl gets it."</span><p></p><p>Usually, what the guy or girl got was the proper way to respond in a way both devastating to opponents, yet with a dry, undercutting humor.</p><p>The mouths of the woke slay with shade. Even among Christians on social media, the urge to join in and humiliate your opponents is strong. There's something satisfying about that fleeting knowledge that you've put your opponents in their place.</p><p>There's also something deeply disturbing and misguided about it. Unrighteous is what it is.</p><p><span class="text Ps-37-30" face="" style="background-color: white; position: relative;"></span></p><blockquote><i><span class="text Ps-37-30" face="" style="background-color: white; position: relative;">The mouths of the righteous utter wisdom,</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span class="indent-1" face="" style="background-color: white;"><span class="indent-1-breaks" style="font-family: monospace; line-height: 0;"> </span><span class="text Ps-37-30" style="position: relative;">and their tongues speak what is just.</span></span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /><span class="text Ps-37-31" face="" id="en-NIV-14482" style="background-color: white; position: relative;"><span class="versenum" style="display: inline; font-weight: 700; left: -4.4em; line-height: normal; position: absolute; top: auto; vertical-align: text-top;">31 </span>The law of their God is in their hearts;</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;" /></i><span class="indent-1" face="" style="background-color: white;"><span class="indent-1-breaks" style="font-family: monospace; line-height: 0;"><i> </i></span><span class="text Ps-37-31" style="position: relative;"><i>their feet do not slip</i>.<br /> Psalm 37:30-31</span></span></blockquote><span class="indent-1" face="" style="background-color: white;"><span class="text Ps-37-31" style="position: relative;"></span></span><p></p><p><span style="background-color: white;"><i><span class="text Ps-37-30" face="" style="position: relative;"><br />The mouths of the righteous utter wisdom,<span style="font-family: monospace;"> </span></span><span class="indent-1" face=""><span class="text Ps-37-30" style="position: relative;">and their tongues speak what is just. </span></span></i><i><span class="text Ps-37-31" face="" id="en-NIV-14482" style="position: relative;">The law of their God is in their hearts; </span></i><span class="indent-1" face=""><span class="text Ps-37-31" style="position: relative;"><i>their feet do not slip </i></span></span></span><span style="background-color: white;">... </span></p><p><span style="background-color: white;"> ...because they've clothed themselves with the full armor of God. Ephesians 6:10-20</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white;"><span class="indent-1" face=""><span class="text Ps-37-31" style="position: relative;">How does the righteous soldier stand firm? How does the soldier princess make sure her feet do not slip? By clothing themselves with truth and righteousness and the readiness that comes with the gospel of peace and faith and salvation and the Spirit's sword, which is the Word of God. </span></span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white;"><span class="indent-1" face=""><span class="text Ps-37-31" style="position: relative;">All of this comes not because the spiritual soldier is focused on acquiring all of those weapons, but through aligning God's heart - the law of God - with your own heart.</span></span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white;"><span class="indent-1" face=""><span class="text Ps-37-31" style="position: relative;">And when your heart is filled with God's laws and God's thoughts, winning a Twitter war just can't begin to compare with finding new and effective ways to drop a taste of the Almighty God's deep, deep wisdom into the shallow waters of the internet.</span></span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white;"><span class="indent-1" face=""><span class="text Ps-37-31" style="position: relative;"><i><span class="text Ps-37-30" face="" style="position: relative;"><br />The mouths of the righteous utter wisdom,<span style="font-family: monospace;"> </span></span><span class="indent-1" face=""><span class="text Ps-37-30" style="position: relative;">and their tongues speak what is just.</span></span><br style="font-size: 16px;" /><span class="text Ps-37-31" face="" id="en-NIV-14482" style="position: relative;"><span class="versenum" style="display: inline; font-weight: 700; left: -4.4em; line-height: normal; position: absolute; top: auto; vertical-align: text-top;">31 </span>The law of their God is in their hearts; </span><span class="indent-1" face=""><span class="text Ps-37-31" style="position: relative;">their feet do not slip ... </span></span></i></span></span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white;"><span class="indent-1" face=""><span class="text Ps-37-31" style="position: relative;"> ...when they take a stand for what is right and just. I Corinthians 16:13; Philippians 4:1</span></span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white;"><span class="indent-1" face=""><span class="text Ps-37-31" style="position: relative;">The best stance for a soldier is not at parade rest, where someone can topple them from attention with a shove. The best stance places the soldier's feet, legs, and entire body in a position prepared to move, to attack, to defend. </span></span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white;"><span class="indent-1" face=""><span class="text Ps-37-31" style="position: relative;">The soldier prince doesn't pick a position and stand stubbornly for it. The soldier defends and goes to battle for whatever is right and just.</span></span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white;"><span class="indent-1" face=""><span class="text Ps-37-31" style="position: relative;">What does that look like in the public square of the 21st century? Unfortunately, much of the evangelical world's attempts at taking the battle to the enemy have slid off center, aiming the worldly weapons of the internet at the the people who stand for "the wrong political opinions."</span></span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white;"><span class="indent-1" face=""><span class="text Ps-37-31" style="position: relative;">When the "enemies" push their politics, believers push back for what they apparently believe in most: the political opinions that push their buttons and move them into action. </span></span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white;"><span class="indent-1" face=""><span class="text Ps-37-31" style="position: relative;">If, by action, we mean opinionating.</span></span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white;"><span class="indent-1" face=""><span class="text Ps-37-31" style="position: relative;">So what should it look like when the people of God take a stand for what is right and just? </span></span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white;"><span class="indent-1" face=""><span class="text Ps-37-31" style="position: relative;">First, they should make sure they're standing for the same sort of right and just things Jesus did.</span></span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white;"><span class="indent-1" face=""><span class="text Ps-37-31" style="position: relative;">Second, the righteousness and justice of God is seldom well represented by quick and cutting responses or hastily shared or retweeted memes. God's heart and your heart </span></span></span><span style="background-color: white;">will always be best presented by speaking from one heart to another, whether in person or in well thought out writing.</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white;"><span class="indent-1" face=""><span class="text Ps-37-31" style="position: relative;"><i><span class="text Ps-37-30" face="" style="position: relative;"><br />The mouths of the righteous utter wisdom,<span style="font-family: monospace;"> </span></span><span class="indent-1" face=""><span class="text Ps-37-30" style="position: relative;">and their tongues speak what is just.</span></span><br style="font-size: 16px;" /><span class="text Ps-37-31" face="" id="en-NIV-14482" style="position: relative;"><span class="versenum" style="display: inline; font-weight: 700; left: -4.4em; line-height: normal; position: absolute; top: auto; vertical-align: text-top;">31 </span>The law of their God is in their hearts; </span><span class="indent-1" face=""><span class="text Ps-37-31" style="position: relative;">their feet do not slip ... </span></span></i></span></span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white;"><span class="indent-1" face=""><span class="text Ps-37-31" style="position: relative;"> ...when their beautiful feet go out to speak good news. Isaiah 52:7</span></span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white;"><span class="indent-1" face=""><span class="text Ps-37-31" style="position: relative;">What is the good news?</span></span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white;"><span class="indent-1" face=""><span class="text Ps-37-31" style="position: relative;">It's seldom the news delivered by the news media. Most of them do their best to report the news accurately, but their goal is to report what's happening in the world, not to report what's happening in the Kingdom of God.</span></span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white;"><span class="indent-1" face=""><span class="text Ps-37-31" style="position: relative;">The Good News is the news of the Kingdom. As Jesus told the people standing around him, the kingdom is among you. It's among us.</span></span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white;"><span class="indent-1" face=""><span class="text Ps-37-31" style="position: relative;">Our job as God's newcasters is not to debate the same things the worldly news media is talking about. We're to be about the Father's business, speaking the good news about what the King did through Jesus on the cross, but also what the King is continuing to do now in the 21st century. </span></span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white;"><span class="indent-1" face=""><span class="text Ps-37-31" style="position: relative;">The good news we get to share is all about God reconciling the world to himself through Jesus Christ.</span></span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white;"><span class="indent-1" face=""><span class="text Ps-37-31" style="position: relative;"><i><span class="text Ps-37-30" face="" style="position: relative;"><br />The mouths of the righteous utter wisdom,<span style="font-family: monospace;"> </span></span><span class="indent-1" face=""><span class="text Ps-37-30" style="position: relative;">and their tongues speak what is just.</span></span><br style="font-size: 16px;" /><span class="text Ps-37-31" face="" id="en-NIV-14482" style="position: relative;"><span class="versenum" style="display: inline; font-weight: 700; left: -4.4em; line-height: normal; position: absolute; top: auto; vertical-align: text-top;">31 </span>The law of their God is in their hearts; </span><span class="indent-1" face=""><span class="text Ps-37-31" style="position: relative;">their feet do not slip ... </span></span></i></span></span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white;"><span class="indent-1" face=""><span class="text Ps-37-31" style="position: relative;"> .. when they give careful thought to the directions they choose in life. </span></span></span><span style="background-color: white;"> Proverbs 4:26-27</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white;">Is it okay for a soldier of God to have personal political opinions? Yes. Is it okay to share those opinions? Certainly.</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white;">The problem - and in the American culture of the 21st century it <u>always </u>seems to be a problem - is that politics is like quicksand. You can't just step your toe into it a little. You can't just take a stand in the middle of it and then easily get back to the righteousness and wisdom of God. It will suck you in. It will drag you down so deeply, you'll soon lose all sight of where it was you once knew you should be making your stand.</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white;">Make a habit of constantly storing the law of God in your heart. You'll have plenty of time for that if you also begin making a habit of actually spending less time on social media and other sources of divisive talk and speculation.</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white;">Spend your time giving careful thought to the wisdom and righteousness of God's heart, and to how you can be a different voice, a clear and steadfast voice among the constant noise of our world.</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white;">Give careful thought to how you can intentionally e</span><span style="background-color: white;">cho the words of Jesus Christ, the one true thought leader.</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white;">On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand. </span></p><p><span style="background-color: white;">All other ground is sinking sand.</span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2544656220577263817.post-53709487978443761712021-02-01T08:30:00.238-06:002021-02-03T11:09:19.036-06:00Psalm 37:21 Be generous for the Lord<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHNR8ANFcNVVSaoPr1n1mm6JTJHpjAyZrBTUxiXotRJT_JCOgxFd-I9avGk_weph7pd6HOjxXUTjZcfI9jOVOpRMa9vHJI2LdUX53wHSsMzTZN6YGiPKqkBT3CkiwwuEfwGf84mZs4DV03/s500/300.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHNR8ANFcNVVSaoPr1n1mm6JTJHpjAyZrBTUxiXotRJT_JCOgxFd-I9avGk_weph7pd6HOjxXUTjZcfI9jOVOpRMa9vHJI2LdUX53wHSsMzTZN6YGiPKqkBT3CkiwwuEfwGf84mZs4DV03/w400-h300/300.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div>I worked alongside Kevin for a little over a year, back in 1980. He had been to a bible college, like me. He had dreams of getting into some kind of full time ministry, like I did. We were around the same age, and we became pretty good friends during that year.</div><div><br /></div><div>I came to know him well enough that I knew he didn't handle money very well. He always seemed to be struggling to keep up with his bills. He didn't understand how checking accounts worked, not really. He sometimes expressed frustration because the bank didn't always pay off on checks in the same order he had written them.</div><div><br /></div><div>Shortly after Thanksgiving in 1980, Kevin asked if I could help him out. He just need a small loan. 300 dollars would do. He had a bill he needed to pay, and he was short $300.</div><div><br /></div><div>I wasn't exactly rolling in money myself, but I told him I would help him out. Kevin insisted this would be a loan, that he would pay me back. He even said he would pay interest on the loan. Five per cent.</div><div><br /></div><div>I shrugged and said, okay. Kevin smiled and said he'd have the money to pay me back within a month.</div><div><br /></div><div>About a month later I overheard Kevin talking to a couple of his friends who worked there at the hospital. They were talking about how much fun they had when they all went to Memphis, Tennessee, for the Liberty Bowl. Their description of the fun they had, the hotel rooms they stayed in, and the great places they had eaten, plus the cost of tickets to the game - it all added up to quite a bit of money.</div><div><br /></div><div>It made me wonder how Kevin could afford that trip and all that fun when just a week before the Liberty Bowl, he was telling me a tale of woe about how he would be evicted if he didn't come up with $300.</div><div><br /></div><div>A few days after I heard about the big weekend in Memphis, Kevin was fired from his job. It was discovered he was playing fast and loose with the petty cash funds he used to run purchasing errands for the hospital.</div><div><br /></div><div>I never saw him again.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>The following Sunday morning I was leading worship at the Mizzou Christian Campus House. The experience surrounding Kevin's firing had me pretty low, but I was getting through it.</div><div><br /></div><div>Our usual worship service at the time including providing an opportunity for anyone in the crowd to share a scripture that had been meaningful to them that week. One of the college students spoke up this Sunday.</div><div><br /></div><div>He said he didn't really know why God had put this particular scripture on his heart that weekend, but he wanted to share it. He read from Matthew 5:38-42, which includes this line:</div><div><i><blockquote>Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you</blockquote></i>He read that verse and then looked up at me. Everyone in the room looked up at me. And they waited. They watched tears form in my eyes.</div><div><br /></div><div>I gave them an abbreviated version of what had happened with Kevin, and that this verse was obviously what I needed to hear.</div><div><br /></div><div>That day, my wife and I made a decision to never again loan money to anyone. </div><div><br /></div><div>We will give people money, when it seems appropriate to do so. If they promise to pay it back, we'll tell them that would be fine - we'll accept the payback if they do come up with the money. But this is a gift, because Jesus says to give to the one who asks you.</div><div><br /></div><div>The custom has served us well, and we have put it into practice many times over the years. We've even been repaid a few times, but it was always a pleasant surprise, not an expected repayment.</div><div><br /></div><div>Having this as our personal practice has helped to train us to have a generous heart. We love to give freely whenever God gives us that opportunity. </div><div><div><blockquote><i>Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work</i>. II Corinthians 9:6-8</blockquote></div><div><br /></div><div>It's easy, when times are hard, to react by pulling everything you have inward, taking and protecting. During hard times I'm always puzzled by the Christians whose automatic response is to want to hide in their bunker and protect themselves and the things they have. I think God is much more pleased by the Christians who react to difficult days by heading out into the community to see how they can help.</div></div><i></i><blockquote><i>
The wicked borrow and do not repay,<br />
but the righteous give generously</i><br />Psalm 37:21</blockquote><div>I reconnected with Kevin a few years back, by way of Facebook. He was surprised when I friended him, and frankly told me he assumed I hated him.</div><div><br /></div><div>I told him no, and I told him about the lessons I had learned from that experience. </div><div><br /></div><div>He never did offer to pay me back. That's okay.</div><div><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2544656220577263817.post-46549211407241932732021-01-25T08:30:00.146-06:002021-01-25T08:30:02.431-06:00Psalm 37: 14-15 Draw your Sword for the Lord<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAPRIwR-YWGGxZOtz5LumDWn1k7qpnSGcsNm69JAGJPACPd6X0c4REm1FBEgSjVLwB_cQ7CGOUVR3IU-qAzFwEOtaQxT2O5B7L-LZBcM4tZ4lkttQ0jBA5hqgKvImsfNobGBpCPwAn3dck/s350/sword.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="350" data-original-width="350" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAPRIwR-YWGGxZOtz5LumDWn1k7qpnSGcsNm69JAGJPACPd6X0c4REm1FBEgSjVLwB_cQ7CGOUVR3IU-qAzFwEOtaQxT2O5B7L-LZBcM4tZ4lkttQ0jBA5hqgKvImsfNobGBpCPwAn3dck/s0/sword.jpg" /></a></div><div><br /></div><blockquote><i>The wicked draw the sword
and bend the bow
to bring down the poor and needy,
to slay those whose ways are upright. </i><div><i>But their swords will pierce their own hearts,
and their bows will be broken</i>.<div>Psalm 37:14-15</div></div></blockquote><div><div>As someone who hungers and thirsts for righteousness, what makes you angry enough to want to draw your sword and bend your bow? </div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Millions of unborn children whose lives are ended through abortion? Millions of children whose lives are oppressed by generational poverty and government programs that keep them there?<br /><br /></li><li>The misuse of God's name through curse words? The misuse of God's name by people who claim to speak for God but don't pursue God's purposes?<br /><br /></li><li>Discords, factions, and truth-bending? Even more so when it's Christians who are arguing among themselves and bending the truth to suit themselves?<br /><br /></li><li>Selective indignation at certain sins, and passive acceptance of other sins?</li></ul></div><div>It's important to remember we're fighting God's battle, not our own, and we're fighting with God's weapons, not the weapons of the world.<blockquote><i>For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. </i>Hebrews 4:12</blockquote>
</div><div><br /></div><div>As a soldier for the Lord, what are the weapons you're tempted to rely on instead of the Sword of the Lord, the Word of God?<br /></div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Legalistic emphasis on the laws of the Bible, unbalanced by love and grace?<br /><br /></li><li>Pursuit of power through politics, privilege, or the purse-string?<br /><br /></li><li>Leading with anger and condemnation instead of love? Confrontation instead of Care-frontation?</li></ul></div><div>It's so easy to allow our anger be sparked by our personal obsessions, to let our zeal be directed by the ways of the world.</div><div>
<blockquote><i>For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. </i>II Corinthians 10:3-4</blockquote></div></div>
<blockquote><i>...in purity, understanding, patience and kindness; in the Holy Spirit and in sincere love; in truthful speech and in the power of God; with weapons of righteousness in the right hand and in the left...</i> II Corinthians 5:6-7</blockquote>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2544656220577263817.post-60901263458174656832021-01-18T08:30:00.192-06:002021-01-18T08:30:00.145-06:00Psalm 37:12-13 Laugh with the Lord<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAYKs8jh3J7IN02ep63sjqjg5MV-5nfxqpR6SelrsKDC7zHmu7DSMxOrDT6m_91GkQe83WM4PzM7Ou80nP4Y3aZ418L_x2oj1Yb3sr0NElGTep0oMMLBjDEr6hWJ1Q_wvD_fcdYJLqHMSi/s1018/jesus%252Bchrist.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="371" data-original-width="1018" height="146" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAYKs8jh3J7IN02ep63sjqjg5MV-5nfxqpR6SelrsKDC7zHmu7DSMxOrDT6m_91GkQe83WM4PzM7Ou80nP4Y3aZ418L_x2oj1Yb3sr0NElGTep0oMMLBjDEr6hWJ1Q_wvD_fcdYJLqHMSi/w400-h146/jesus%252Bchrist.jpg" title="from "The Chosen"" width="400" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>I love the limited TV series, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=595822144703108 https://www.facebook.com/watch/InsideTheChosen/" target="_blank">The Chosen</a>. It's a dramatized telling of the life of Jesus and his followers. If you haven't checked it out, I highly recommend it.</div><div><br /></div><div>One of the best features of the show is its portrayal of Jesus' sense of humor. I've always pictured Jesus and his disciples as being much like any close knit group of guys, including a fair amount of friendly joshing and laughing. That's exactly <a href="https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=535261700759153" target="_blank">the way they're portrayed in the Chosen</a>. </div><div><br /></div><div>Most men pick up their sense of humor, for better or worse, from their fathers. Dad jokes get passed along from generation to generation, exasperating wives and children. I was perpetually perplexed by my own dad's favorite joke ("What's the difference between a duck?"), but I faithfully passed it along to my own boys. Mercifully, I think the legacy stopped there.</div><div><br /></div><div>It should be natural for us to imitate our heavenly Father's sense of humor. The more my heart becomes like God's heart, the more I'll laugh at the same things he laughs at.</div><div><br /></div><div>By the same logic, the <i>less </i>my heart is aligned with the Father's, the less I'll be able to laugh at the sort of things - and people - he laughs at.</div><div><blockquote><i>The wicked plot against the righteous
and gnash their teeth at them;<br />but the Lord laughs at the wicked,
for he knows their day is coming.</i> <br />Psalm 37:12-13</blockquote><div><span face="" style="background-color: white;">Beginning at this point in Psalm 37, David shifts toward describing the way the wicked people of the world react to disagreements and conflicts, and contrasting that with the way righteous people ought to approach those situations.</span></div><div><span face="" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div><div><span face="" style="background-color: white;">He begins with a comparison that prompts this question:<br /><br /></span></div><div><span face="" style="background-color: white;">Why do so many Christians get so worked up about the goings on of governments and political leaders and the results of elections?</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: "times new roman", times, freeserif, serif; font-size: 17.6px;" /><blockquote class="tr_bq" style="background-color: white; font-family: "times new roman", times, freeserif, serif; font-size: 17.6px;"><i>Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth rise up and the rulers band together against the Lord and against his anointed, saying, “Let us break their chains and throw off their shackles.” </i> </blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq" style="background-color: white; font-family: "times new roman", times, freeserif, serif; font-size: 17.6px;"><i>The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord scoffs at them</i>. (Psalm 2:1-4)</blockquote><span face="" style="background-color: white;">If God thinks so little of them, why do we get so worked up about them?</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: "times new roman", times, freeserif, serif; font-size: 17.6px;" /><blockquote class="tr_bq" style="background-color: white; font-family: "times new roman", times, freeserif, serif; font-size: 17.6px;"><i>The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And he said to him, “I will give you all their authority and splendor; it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. If you worship me, it will all be yours.”</i> </blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq" style="background-color: white; font-family: "times new roman", times, freeserif, serif; font-size: 17.6px;"><i>Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’</i> (Luke 4:5-8)</blockquote><span face="" style="background-color: white;">Notice, Jesus doesn't dispute Satan's claim to having been given all the authority of nations and the rulers of nations.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: "times new roman", times, freeserif, serif; font-size: 17.6px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-family: "times new roman", times, freeserif, serif; font-size: 17.6px;" /><span face="" style="background-color: white;">It's an interesting claim, especially considering the logical next question: If that authority has been given to Satan, who gave it to him? There's really only one logical answer to that question.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: "times new roman", times, freeserif, serif; font-size: 17.6px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-family: "times new roman", times, freeserif, serif; font-size: 17.6px;" /><span face="" style="background-color: white;">God thinks so little of the power of nations and rulers, he's delegated that insignificant part of the world to Satan.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: "times new roman", times, freeserif, serif; font-size: 17.6px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-family: "times new roman", times, freeserif, serif; font-size: 17.6px;" /><span face="" style="background-color: white;">Let Satan have the politics. God and His people have the gospel.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: "times new roman", times, freeserif, serif; font-size: 17.6px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-family: "times new roman", times, freeserif, serif; font-size: 17.6px;" /><span face="" style="background-color: white;">Looked at that way, Jesus' reply to Satan could be read as having a double meaning.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: "times new roman", times, freeserif, serif; font-size: 17.6px;" /><ul style="background-color: white; font-family: "times new roman", times, freeserif, serif; font-size: 17.6px; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0.5em 0px; padding: 0px 2.5em;"><li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">No, Satan, I won't worship you. As the Son, I will only worship the Lord my God and serve him only."</li><li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">Anyone who worships the Lord and serves him should be careful to not elevate concerns about the nations and rulers and all their authority (i.e., politics) above concerns about glorifying God and sharing the gospel.</li></ul><div style="background-color: white; font-family: "times new roman", times, freeserif, serif; font-size: 17.6px;">Go ahead, have and share political opinions. Every Christian is free to be involved in politics and government. Every Christian is free to hold opinions (although nowhere in the Bible are we told we have to have an opinion on every topic, nor are we ever commanded to share what we think about every topic).</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: "times new roman", times, freeserif, serif; font-size: 17.6px;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: "times new roman", times, freeserif, serif; font-size: 17.6px;">But keep such things in perspective. God has given the kingdoms and the kingdom authorities over to Satan. Followers of Jesus should make the same choice He did: worship the Lord your God and serve Him only.</div></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2544656220577263817.post-49778619634051273942021-01-11T08:30:00.141-06:002022-01-21T16:04:22.812-06:00Psalm 37:10-11 Be Meek for the Lord<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUwdcSbPTROuzPvjTTjv9Ep8TuBDH08xARqzERdNt8xJRRmg8Q0pSOBYOgkubH9v33UZ6VTEqqfKOhmWjL1X5I0AHYuc0_ogQHHnRJud4tHd1ahqY4sPcVRi-gDML-wgyYHjavNkXQeO5-/s2016/Remington_The_Cowboy_1902.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2016" data-original-width="1367" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUwdcSbPTROuzPvjTTjv9Ep8TuBDH08xARqzERdNt8xJRRmg8Q0pSOBYOgkubH9v33UZ6VTEqqfKOhmWjL1X5I0AHYuc0_ogQHHnRJud4tHd1ahqY4sPcVRi-gDML-wgyYHjavNkXQeO5-/w271-h400/Remington_The_Cowboy_1902.jpg" width="271" /></a></div><div><br /></div><blockquote>A little while, and the wicked will be no more;<div> though you look for them, they will not be found. </div><div>But the meek will inherit the land</div><div> and enjoy peace and prosperity.<div>Psalm 37:10-11</div></div></blockquote><div><div></div><div>My favorite novel is <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/311904.Monte_Walsh" target="_blank">Monte Walsh, by Jack Schaefer</a>. There are other books I've read more than once, but none of them as often as <i>Monte Walsh</i>. I have two copies of the book, both paperback. One is so worn from re-reading that the cover and pages feel like soft cotton. On the inside of the back cover I've noted the month and year of each time I've re-read the book. I actually read the book a few times before I started keeping track, and I've read it a couple of times since then, using a newer edition I bought.</div><div><br /></div><div>The opening line: </div><blockquote><div><i>A boy and a horse.</i></div></blockquote><div>That pretty much summarizes the plot. Monte Walsh, who begins the novel as a young boy and concludes it as an older man, becomes one of the best cowboys ever at handling horses.</div><div><br /></div><div>There are several times in the tale where Monte tops a wild bronc and hangs on through a rough and dangerous ride, eventually calming the horse. I hesitate to say he "tames" horses, because the ideal horse, in the mind of any good cowboy, is one that has been trained to follow the rider's wishes, but retains the energy and personality of a wild horse.</div><div><br /></div><div>In one story, Monte, as an old vagabond cowhand, is working with a rough crew, for a mean boss. As they're gathering cattle, a neighboring farmer arrives and says he can't find his milk cow. He wants to know if they could remove the milk cow from the herd of longhorns. </div><div><br /></div><div>The boss rudely refuses, saying he has no intention of stirring up the cattle by sending cowboys into their midst to search for one milk cow. Monte Walsh offers to do it, and promises he and his veteran horse won't disturb the cattle. The younger cowboys laugh at the old man and at his boasts about his old worn down horse.</div><div><br /></div><div>Monte tells them his horse can do it even without a rider, which brings even more laughter. But once the farmer gives the horse a whiff of the milk cow's bridle, Monte sends the horse in. The old horse smoothly winds his way through the herd, locates the cow, and gently but insistently nudges the nervous cow through the longhorns and back out to the edge. The herd was barely disturbed.</div><div><br /></div><div>That same horse, whenever Monte first climbs aboard each morning, goes into a fit of bucking and kicking and trying to unseat the cowboy. It's not quite as wild as when they were both younger, but both Monte and the horse enjoy the exercise.</div><div><br /></div><div>The word translated as <i>meekness </i>in scriptures is a word used to describe a wild horse that has been tamed just enough to be subservient and loyal to its master, but still retaining a healthy dose of wild energy. </div><div><br /></div><div>If we put our energy into fighting what we see as evil in our country, we might have some successes. We also might give in to the worst of our wild nature, stirring up troubles and alienating the very people the Master wants us to be winnowing out from the crowd and reuniting with the Master. </div><div><br /></div><div>Much of 21st century church culture urges God's people toward arguing, debating, fighting, and pushing for our rights. But just imagine the victories we could win if we continually put our efforts and energy into whatever the Lord sets us to doing. </div><div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2544656220577263817.post-44459888163838228172021-01-04T08:30:00.236-06:002021-01-04T08:30:03.940-06:00Psalm 37:9 Hope in the Lord<div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzmvqC5f24buRSLHESWmPWUv8J8Piyq-0uWNh7oaGRW5YS6aXfmeHmpUP6jY6OEJcvVtl_WOhnoASARbzCG4stvb-eF70HpHw5pKAVnz-QYK4hxsjQnT3QgENdbCJBl7Zt-4oauyvpigEY/s960/hope.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="960" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzmvqC5f24buRSLHESWmPWUv8J8Piyq-0uWNh7oaGRW5YS6aXfmeHmpUP6jY6OEJcvVtl_WOhnoASARbzCG4stvb-eF70HpHw5pKAVnz-QYK4hxsjQnT3QgENdbCJBl7Zt-4oauyvpigEY/w320-h213/hope.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />The apostle Peter wrote to the church in Rome at a time of hopelessness. A realistic analysis of the likelihood for the survival of the Church in the heart of the Roman Empire would have concluded there was little or no chance.</div><div><br /></div><div>And yet Peter talks to them about hope. </div><div><blockquote>Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. I Peter 1:3-5</blockquote><blockquote>Therefore, with minds that are alert and fully sober, set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming. I Peter 1:13</blockquote><blockquote>Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.I Peter 1:21</blockquote><blockquote>For this is the way the holy women of the past who put their hope in God used to adorn themselves. They submitted themselves to their own husbands, like Sarah, who obeyed Abraham and called him her lord. You are her daughters if you do what is right and do not give way to fear. Peter 3:5-6</blockquote><blockquote>But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander. I Peter 3:15-16</blockquote><div>The kind of hope that changes lives, that can be seen in the daily actions of people - that version of hope is our best tool for drawing people to faith in Christ. A daily life that turns hope into real world action is what will prepare you to give an answer to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that you have.</div></div><div><br /></div><div>They won't ask if they don't see hope not only in the words you speak but in the places you go, the people you help, the sacrifices you make for others, and your refusal to compromise your priorities.</div><div><br /></div><div>Why has China been ground zero for the growth of the church in the past few decades? By all logic, the church should have died under the oppression of the totalitarian, communist, atheist government. Instead the believers who expressed their hope actively ain hundreds of house churches.</div><div><br /></div><div>How will the church in America survive or thrive in the face of a nearly overwhelming secular cultural that trivializes and marginalizes Christianity? </div><div><br /></div><div>It won't because we put our hope in rallies and protests. It won't because we put our hope in the memes and shared posts or tweets that hammer home a version of righteousness in unrighteous ways.</div><div><br /></div><div>It won't be because we put our hope in candidates or in politicians, those people who know how to manipulate us because they can see clearly that our hope is not in God, but in causes and laws. Rather than asking us the reason for the hope they see in us, they callously manipulate our misplaced hopes. And we willingly sell our inheritance of righteous to any unrighteous huckster who promises to vote the right way.</div><div><br /></div><div>And the world observes our actions and rightly pinpoints the empty promises and soul-less politicians in whom we've placed our every hope.</div><div><br /></div><div>We've let ourselves believe that our best hope for reclaiming America as a Christian nation is by putting our hope in a certain brand of politics. But this hope will fail us. This path will destroy us. </div><div></div><blockquote><div><br /></div><div><i>For those who are evil will be destroyed, </i><div><i>but those who hope in the Lord will inherit the land.</i></div><div>Psalm 37:9</div></div></blockquote><div><div></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2544656220577263817.post-88764379973472494702020-12-28T08:30:00.161-06:002020-12-28T08:30:00.465-06:00Psalm 37:8 Refrain from anger & Turn away from wrath<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivFWBTBT8qj_gi-K26JxQk98v1GzmWEEbQNKjzd_8mR-MCTA5AvhZyUPzcHUB02PgQl16CpJp4JRI5uwsgMXm6j6YBGJYJACXMmyasXhJ4MoSfyCv1Ox08M8ioz3_QORWhpFWhcFU0PU_m/s960/anger.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="539" data-original-width="960" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivFWBTBT8qj_gi-K26JxQk98v1GzmWEEbQNKjzd_8mR-MCTA5AvhZyUPzcHUB02PgQl16CpJp4JRI5uwsgMXm6j6YBGJYJACXMmyasXhJ4MoSfyCv1Ox08M8ioz3_QORWhpFWhcFU0PU_m/w320-h180/anger.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><blockquote><i>Refrain from anger and turn from wrath;
<br />do not fret—it leads only to evil</i>.<br /><br />Psalm 37:8<br /></blockquote>David brings us back to the Put Off/Put On theme he's employed throughout this Psalm. <div><br /></div><div>So far, he's focused mostly on the characteristics and actions we need to “Put-On” if we want to successfully "put off" fretting and envying in response to wicked people.</div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Actively, whole-heartedly trust in the Lord</li><li>Intentionally do good</li><li>Seek out ways to serve God no matter where he has put you</li><li>Find and express genuine delight in your life with the Lord</li><li>Commit wholly to that life</li><li>Be still rather than leaping into hasty action</li><li>Wait patiently for the Lord to take care of things</li></ul></div><div>But the "put off" part is equally important. By intentionally removing the harmful habits from our lives, we create a vacuum which our newly acquired righteous habits can fill. This works much better than just passively expecting spiritual transformation to just happen.</div><div><br />Many spiritual or religious people have picked up a common attitude toward the Psalms. It's poetry, they think. And most people think the proper approach to poetry is to give it a light reading and briefly bask in whatever emotional response it prompts. </div><div><br /></div><div>And so, the average person reads Psalm 37 and thinks, Wow, that’s cool. And they move along with life, completely lacking in any thought of intentionally making real changes in their life as a result of what they've just read. </div><div><br /></div><div>But that's the problem David is writing about. Instead of letting your emotions control your response to the evil actions of wicked people, find a constructive way to respond in a more positive way.</div><div><i></i></div><blockquote><div><i>Let your gentleness be known to all. The Lord is near</i>. Philippians 4:5</div><div><br /><i>My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires</i>. James 1:19-20</div><div><br /><i> Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you</i>. Ephesians 4:31-32</div></blockquote><div></div><div>The intolerance and quick anger of Christians is certainly evident to non-believers. In fact, polls and surveys consistently show it's one of the chief characteristics people associate with Christians. </div><div><br /></div><div>If you intentionally do the hard work of putting off your anger and wrath, replacing it with a disciplined of gentle spirit, listening ear, and active kindness, it will be evident to non-believers.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2544656220577263817.post-46953992728637883302020-12-21T08:30:00.276-06:002020-12-21T08:30:00.749-06:00Psalm 37:7 Don't focus on schemes<p style="text-align: center;"> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBhrUQB_KtWrdbjB5P7AMVJRS6kMUQug6pwD_ckfWBQtshwmq_snqHP8qmQMC_3Wc4evezTcu_gGfFyTaEKKGjOEzTw-3_yLikzFOZ8w7PrtlS32s-kdU7eAR4w31j75MUIsX8VhIctNsU/s1024/critical+thinking.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="515" data-original-width="1024" height="201" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBhrUQB_KtWrdbjB5P7AMVJRS6kMUQug6pwD_ckfWBQtshwmq_snqHP8qmQMC_3Wc4evezTcu_gGfFyTaEKKGjOEzTw-3_yLikzFOZ8w7PrtlS32s-kdU7eAR4w31j75MUIsX8VhIctNsU/w400-h201/critical+thinking.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p></p><blockquote><i>Do not fret when people succeed in their ways,<br />
when they carry out their wicked schemes</i><br /><br />Psalm 37:7
</blockquote>Our word <i>schemes </i>is a translation of the Hebrew <i>mezzimah</i>, which describes a person's thought processes and the resulting ideas and plans. Almost always it's used in reference to warped or misguided thinking that leads to wicked or evil actions.<div><br /></div><div>Paul uses a similar term in a similar way in 2 Corinthians 2:10-11
<br /><blockquote><i>Anyone you forgive, I also forgive. And what I have forgiven—if there was anything to forgive—I have forgiven in the sight of Christ for your sake, in order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes.</i><br /></blockquote>The Greek word translated as <i>schemes </i>is <i>no</i>ē<i>mata</i>. It also refers to the end result of a thought process. It's a favorite word of Paul's in II Corinthians, used in both positive (10:5) and negative (3:14; 4:4; 11:3) ways.</div><div><br /></div><div>It's not at all hard to understand the concept of a person's messed up way of thinking about things when you see it at work in someone else, as David is doing in Psalm 37.</div><div><br /></div><div>I experience this almost every day when I scan my social media timelines and see the wildest ideas and most unbelievable theories and so-called "facts" posted or shared - and this by both strangers and some of my friends.</div><div><br /></div><div>I will admit this to be the one thing that frustrates me most and makes me want to fret and burn with anger. And yes, I sometimes struggle with envy at the attention these ill-conceived notions receive, and the popularity of such ridiculous viewpoints.</div><div><br /></div><div>I'm not talking about opinions I just happen to disagree with. One of my chief principles is to not assume I'm always right, and to respect the differing opinions of others. </div><div><br /></div><div>It's the gullibility and twisted up thought processes that lead to the most extreme ideas and inflammatory comments by my fellow believers that bother me most. They lack any evidence of critical thinking, and generally lack kindness, peacemaking, and any sense of Christ's mission.</div><div><br /></div><div>As a friend recently said, I don't like the idea that I share a belief system with such people. They claim to have come to a reasoned belief in God and in Christ Jesus, all the while coming across like they believe even more strongly in conspiracy theories and twisted versions of reality. </div><div><br /></div><div>As I said, this is the part of Psalm 37 I personally struggle with most. So what am I to do? What are any of us to do if we want to win the war against such schemes?</div><div><br /></div><div>First, follow David's advice: Don't fret. As we're learning in Psalm 37, the best way to not burn with anger at such things is to use that angry energy in more positive ways. Trust in the Lord, do good for the Lord, dwell in the land, delight in the Lord, and so on.</div><div><br /></div><div>Second, follow Paul's advice in II Corinthians 2, and be aware that Satan, the Father of Lies, is the true purveyor of fake news and every misdirected thought process. Our battle is not against flesh and blood, not against memes and Russian bots and trolls, but against the real ruler of this present darkness. Which only serves to demonstrate the importance,a gain, of following David's advice.</div><div><br /></div><div>Third, follow Paul's advice in II Corinthians 10:4-5, where he uses that same term again:</div><blockquote><i>The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every <u>thought</u> to make it obedient to Christ.</i></blockquote>We need to learn to rightly order our thoughts as people who claim to follow Christ. Take captive and cast aside any thought process that begins with any sort of political philosophy, financial gain, or personal agendas. Take captive and embrace thought processes ground in Christi's mission for us, which is to draw all people toward him.<div><br /></div><div>Practice putting your mind to use as a tool for sharing the gospel, rather than sharing your theories.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2544656220577263817.post-4285063682006992332020-12-14T08:30:00.201-06:002020-12-14T08:30:03.737-06:00Psalm 37:7 Wait patiently for the Lord<div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3JRw7E7YSH0cqFTyIlprlsUgsklsfpfuQvGzK8OAcM-N4cf1BgD_HPYQACO5O_GnW0sC9eFUrsT0gwIwwUVa4dXQwndfYdwBYTMVoOjq-RSyJGzYf8KDQhKWY6iNAvOVvpyh8jq8kpTHN/s1920/waiting-room-1517421928N6O.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1920" data-original-width="1825" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3JRw7E7YSH0cqFTyIlprlsUgsklsfpfuQvGzK8OAcM-N4cf1BgD_HPYQACO5O_GnW0sC9eFUrsT0gwIwwUVa4dXQwndfYdwBYTMVoOjq-RSyJGzYf8KDQhKWY6iNAvOVvpyh8jq8kpTHN/w380-h400/waiting-room-1517421928N6O.jpg" width="380" /></a></div><br />In my first year of working in hospital purchasing, I would finish my day at 4:30 each afternoon. My wife, who was a part time secretary and counselor at the Mizzou Christian Campus House, would get off at 5:00 each day. She had out only car with her.</div><div><br /></div><div>I'd sit in the entranceway to the hospital for the wait, reading a book or just staring off into space. </div><div>At ten 'til the hour, Lisa, a pharmacy worker I knew, would arrive in the entranceway and sit across from me. She was waiting for her boyfriend to pick her up. </div><div><br /></div><div>He was often late, at least according to her. And she would often complain. </div><div><br /></div><div>As I sat waited for Karen, Lisa would express her surprise at my refusal to complain about my wife being late.</div><div><br /></div><div>I explained that she got off at 5, but then she had to navigate through rush hour traffic on campus and deal with two of the busiest commuter thoroughfares in the city. There was no way to predict, on any given day, the multitude of things that could slow the flow of traffic.</div><div><br /></div><div>My waiting companion complained that her boyfriend would probably stop at a bar if the traffic annoyed him.</div><div><br /></div><div>I would also explain that Karen's quitting time was somewhat unpredictable. 5:00 could bleed into 5:10 or even as late as 5:30 if there was something that came up at the last minute. Also, students frequently sought her out for counseling, and their needs didn't always match up to her work schedule.</div><div><br /></div><div>Lisa groused about her guy likely getting into some pointless conversation at the bar and forgetting her altogether. She said I was an idiot for not trusting my wife.</div><div><br /></div><div>That's just it, I told her. I do trust my wife. </div><div><br /></div><div>As she scoffed, I went on to say that, in my experience, there are two reasons why someone has trouble trusting other people. One is that they've been lied to, disappointed, and treated poorly so many times, they no longer think anyone is trustworthy. The other reason is that, deep down in their heart, they know they themselves aren't very trustworthy. They naturally assume everyone else is like them.</div><div><br /></div><div>I recall the look in her eyes when I said that. It was like I had just landed a painful blow with a surgically sharp needle, directly into her heart.</div><div><br /></div><div>Of course, she blustered and bluffed her way past it, returning to her complaints about her boyfriend.</div><div><br /></div><div>Finally, I added one more point, saving the best for last.</div><div><br /></div><div>Besides, I said, what else have I got to do with my time except wait? Sit here and talk to you?</div><div><br /></div><div>Which, to me, was entirely the point. God had a reason for me to wait there day after day. And his reason was sitting across the entranceway from me.</div><div><br /></div><div></div><blockquote><div><i>Be still before the Lord
and wait patiently for him</i>.</div><div>Psalm 37:7</div></blockquote><div></div><div>When you're fretting about the unacceptable situation people have put you in, wait patiently for the Lord.</div><div><br /></div><div>When other people - people less faithful than you - seem to be moving right along through life with no complications, wait patiently for the Lord.</div><div><br /></div><div>When people around you have the wrong attitude, the wrong opinions, the wrong lifestyle, or the wrong politics, wait patiently for the Lord. </div><div><br /></div><div>Trust me, he has a plan. Trust him to make all things work out together for his purposes - in his own time.</div><div><br /></div><div>Trust him to raise up people who can correct those problems. Trust him to provide opportunities for his people to be salt and light in the midst of a world filled with frustrating people. </div><div><br /></div><div>And while you're waiting, look across the room and there will almost always be someone else waiting. You can be that person who just happens to have a salt shaker and a flashlight in your pocket, and God just happened to set up this divine appointment for you. </div><div><br /></div><div>What else have you got to do?</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2544656220577263817.post-46038632261311712612020-12-07T08:30:00.184-06:002023-05-31T12:45:41.423-05:00Psalm 37:7 Be still before the Lord<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ-5dSQM4lk2HiNk1bveDOmwy6QTkWUycPEC5a-T0iGWl3c43KxVP0gx40czlQWEhowzE8rguKuxZ6epQpFm2-gQEgaFUCYfN2uRw5rL68QrRfIEzMOZQXi1awCZ3_kC-UCCnyWPefXYyV/s320/320px-When_Chicago_stopped.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="213" data-original-width="320" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ-5dSQM4lk2HiNk1bveDOmwy6QTkWUycPEC5a-T0iGWl3c43KxVP0gx40czlQWEhowzE8rguKuxZ6epQpFm2-gQEgaFUCYfN2uRw5rL68QrRfIEzMOZQXi1awCZ3_kC-UCCnyWPefXYyV/w400-h266/320px-When_Chicago_stopped.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div>During the Spring of 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic led cities to shut down. Stores and restaurants and bars and theaters were closed. The only people working were those consider "essential" for the minimal infrastructure of modern life. </div><div><br /></div><div>Each day during that time, I would put in my usual 8 hours on my job, but not at my office. Instead, I worked from the solitude of my own home, remoting in on the computer. Along with all of my co-workers, we went through the normal habits of the workday from the totally abnormal locations in our homes </div><div><br /></div><div>On the first day of my seclusion, I began a daily habit of leaving my desk at the end of the workday and walking out the door and directly to my car. I grew comfortable with working in solitude, but I never stopped wanting to finish it off by going for a drive and stretching my eyeballs. </div><div><br /></div><div>I never actually went anywhere, never actually got out of my car. I might visit the drive through window of a fast food joint for a brief, masked interaction with an essential purveyor of Diet Coke. But usually I just picked a direction and drove around my city.</div><div><br /></div><div>During safer times, I was a rideshare driver for Uber and Lyft. My workplace was rush hour traffic and the hustle and bustle of pedestrians downtown and on the university campus. Now, the rush hour was reduced to a trickle of traffic and the sidewalks and streets of the center city were mostly barren.</div><div><br /></div><div>The stillness was surreal.</div><div><br /></div><div>Some writers and preachers quoted scriptures about Sabbath and stillness, pointing us to a God-given opportunity in the midst of this horrible natural calamity. Some believers took thesis advice to heart and intentionally took time to treasure the stillness.</div><div><br /></div><div>From my perspective, however, it seems most American believers no longer feel comfortable lying down in green pastures for very long. They're easily bored sitting beside still waters. They've forgotten the connection between stillness and the restoration of the soul.</div><div><br /></div><div>They need to be doing something, and not just going for a drive. What's the point of the drive if there's nowhere to go?</div><div><br /></div><div>During a time of crisis, like 2020, our greatest compulsion is to be doing something <i>about </i>the problem. And in the 21st century, that usually means forming opinions and building verbal walls between those of us who are right and those others who are wrong.</div><div><br /></div><div>Social media has turned out to be really bad at social distancing. If we had been content to embrace the stillness of the streets, we might have avoided rushing like panicked wildebeests onto the information highway.</div><div><br /></div><div>Inexplicably, science became the ball in a game of political ping pong being played out online. Christians questioned each others' spirituality over disagreements on physical vs. virtual church, masks or no masks, and how it all impacted on politics.</div><div><br /></div><div>Had we all chosen God's stillness, we might have been able to be still and know not only God, but to grasp His priorities in the midst of the furious pursuit of rightness.</div><div><br /></div><div>When you find yourself fretting about the wrongness of others' opinions and envious of their followers, simply stop. </div><div><br /></div><blockquote><i>Be still before the Lord</i><div>Psalm 37:7</div></blockquote><div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2544656220577263817.post-67748802602243955542020-11-30T08:30:00.238-06:002020-11-30T08:30:00.246-06:00Psalm 37:5-6 Commit your Way to the Lord<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKRObNFqkX0JpYdj1KXAbAw-itg0sOZWyo42E2rQjtVigLHpWOxUxHIzOEi_yqufVMQ5z1dybzugZvQoTcQGxjmEkq9_I5wwViekCGA2W-hlzy9VeUzItkgHEp97o-xcQpd7VqRoDtVc76/s1024/pink.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="512" data-original-width="1024" height="160" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKRObNFqkX0JpYdj1KXAbAw-itg0sOZWyo42E2rQjtVigLHpWOxUxHIzOEi_yqufVMQ5z1dybzugZvQoTcQGxjmEkq9_I5wwViekCGA2W-hlzy9VeUzItkgHEp97o-xcQpd7VqRoDtVc76/w320-h160/pink.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div></div>I worked 41 years in the healthcare supply chain field, working my way through various job titles and responsibilities, only changing employers when our hospital was bought out by the local university. In April of 1979 I applied for a job in a hospital storeroom, unloading trucks, stocking the shelves, managing the inventory, and pulling orders for hospital departments. I gained a broad and comprehensive knowledge of healthcare supply chain by shifting through job responsibilities and titles over the course of four decades plus a year.<div><br /></div><div>That sort of career is rare in an age where most people switch companies every few years. To my mind, committing my way to the success of my employers was the road to job security. Continually proving my value to the company and to my bosses, and I would ride that loyalty all the way to retirement.</div><div><br /></div><div>That's how it's supposed to work, isn't it? I can trust them to be as loyal to me as I've been to them, can't I?</div><div><br /></div><div>Then came 2020 and the COVID-19 pandemic hit the university hard, like it did nearly every company in America. Thousands were furloughed and hundreds were laid off, and I was one of the second hundred who lost our jobs, three years short of the best time for me to finish with full retirement rewards.</div><div><br /></div><div>That's not how it's supposed to work.</div>
<blockquote><i>
Commit your way to the Lord;
trust in him and he will do this: </i><div><i>He will make your righteous reward shine like the dawn, </i></div><div><i>your vindication like the noonday sun. </i></div><div>Psalm 37:5-6</div></blockquote>During the two-weeks notice they allowed, I was asked to work with my co-workers and bosses to let them know how to do everything I do in my job. They also needed me to bequeath to them my 41 years of institutional knowledge and experience.<div><br /></div><div>As the scope of my tasks and experience began to dawn on them, I felt a certain amount of vindication. It was becoming clear there would be no way everything was going to get done by the people left behind. The people left to fill in the gaps weren't at fault, they just didn't have enough hours in each day or week to do it all. Nor did they have enough years on the job to have learned everything they might need to know.</div><div><br /></div><div>There was some selfish pride in that vindication, but it was less like the noonday sun and more like the setting sun, as I stared ahead into an uncertain future.</div><div><br /></div><div>I could lash out at the people who made the choices that have left me in this tough situation. I could fret about the injustice, I could envy those who somehow were spared. I could take the advice of Job's wife and rail at God.</div><div><br /></div><div>Indeed, the weight of this unexpected betrayal threatened to take my wife and I under, bringing many tears and plenty of stress. But it hasn't crushed us, because my career has never been the primary commitment in my life. I've always been the type who works in order to be able to do the other things that are important to me, rather than being motivated by the job itself.</div><div><br /></div><div>Our commitment has always been to the path the Lord lays out before us. I've survived multiple rounds of layoffs over these past 41 years. Each time, I said that if God has a new plan for me, some new thing he needs us to commit ourselves to, the best way for him to make that clear would be to pull my current career out from under me.</div><div><br /></div><div>This is not the first time we've learned it's possible to be thoroughly crushed and mightily depressed about our circumstances, while at the same time feeling joyful to know the Lord is unmistakably at work in our lives. </div><div><br /></div><div>We don't know what the Lord has planned, but we are absolutely certain He will make our righteous reward shine like the dawn, our vindication like the noonday sun. </div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2544656220577263817.post-61179281947712304672020-11-23T08:30:00.046-06:002020-11-23T08:30:00.154-06:00Psalm 37:4 Delight in the Lord<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbLfsErDl6cF2yyOrTemjqpctsIHnK_HL1zNJ9BBwLzVfygQ8QkeGnxj4AoZWDcdpisyNW-wxZ1r37ThSPd6GzDxtFZTe8nZGIOpDQUVJJpE4ccusWIKcCwBLYBMMmp8EbOHAhcoyhgS8e/s1600/20+Lollis+strut.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="330" data-original-width="290" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbLfsErDl6cF2yyOrTemjqpctsIHnK_HL1zNJ9BBwLzVfygQ8QkeGnxj4AoZWDcdpisyNW-wxZ1r37ThSPd6GzDxtFZTe8nZGIOpDQUVJJpE4ccusWIKcCwBLYBMMmp8EbOHAhcoyhgS8e/s400/20+Lollis+strut.jpg" width="351" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
July 24th , 2020, was a delightful day. After the long pandemic-driven delay, baseball was back! How wonderful!<br />
<br />
I spent the weekend watching whatever games were being broadcast on the channels I have. That meant no Cardinals or Royals, the two Missouri teams I like to root for. But I did get to watch a Washington Nationals game with Max Scherzer pitching. And that was a delight, since I frequently watched him pitch years ago when he was with the Missouri Tigers ballclub.<br />
<br />
Max and his team didn't win this weekend, which was less delightful. But all in all, I was still delighted that I got my heart's desire, which is to watch some baseball. I'm the kind of oddball fan who takes pure joy in the game itself, no matter who wins. Sure, it takes a bit of my joy away if my team loses, but the greatest thief of my baseball joy is when the season is over - or it's suspended by a virus - and there's no baseball at all!<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.</i><br />
<br />
Psalm 37:4</blockquote>
Hang around with 21st century American Evangelical Christians much, and you'll begin to wonder what it is that brings them delight? What is their greatest desire?<br />
<br />
One would think the Lord would be the object of their delight. The Bible certainly points in that direction over and over.<br />
<br />
What, though, steals their joy away from them most often? It would seem they take the most delight in being right, whether's it about their theology or their politics. They delight in getting the last word in when there's an argument about cultural or lifestyle differences of opinion. Their greatest desire would appear to be convincing people to change their political opinions.<br />
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Do they not delight in the Lord? Oh, I think they do, some more than others. It's just that they haven't necessarily made the solid connection between their delight and their desires.<br />
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David says the two go hand in hand. If you take delight in the Lord, he will give the desires of your heart. If this, then that.<div><br /></div><div>Like the Bible's frequent "put off/put on" statements I've been pointing to, the conditional "if/then" statement is another favorite of the biblical writers. Frequently they're misunderstood by readers, though. We tend to read sentences like "If you love me, keep my commandments" (John 14:15) as though they were commands. The same way children learn to interpret, "If you clean your room, I'll take you to the mall."</div><div><br /></div><div>Quite often, it's more accurate to understand such If/Then statements in the bible the same way we'd understand, "If you want to avoid catching the coronavirus, wash your hands." The "then" is the natural outcome of the "if".<br />
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David's statement in Psalm 37:4 is not a matter of getting a reward. It's not, "If you delight in the Lord, you'll earn the desires of your heart", as though the only connection between the delight and the desire is transactional.<br />
<br />Instead, David appears to be saying that when you've grown so close to God that He is actually your greatest delight, then the desires of your heart will naturally be the same as the Lord's desires.<br />
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Within the context of Psalm 37, if my greatest delight comes from seeing the evildoers and wrong doers get what's coming to them, then my greatest desire will be to watch them stumble and fall on their faces.<br />
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It's much more joyful, though, to practice delighting in the Lord, in who He is, the things He does, and the things in which He delights. Then when the negativity and bad behavior of the world threatens to steal my joy, then the joy of the Lord will be my strength (Nehemiah 8:10).</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2544656220577263817.post-37964883440220897222020-11-16T08:30:00.015-06:002020-11-16T08:30:00.512-06:00Psalm 37: 3 Dwell in the Land<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2ffvdy2aFGXEdxf7Vquyjjwfhv-9aftkUMfsjv3oC3A28MN9R9UfsB833cm1k-9zXeDoD7hkewBYkQ9ht5036RILnk3EWKebE-Ygbb7suuufXbig020Den_IbSkQGOGoIHjCRUoct4EIP/s1600/sheep.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="165" data-original-width="306" height="215" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2ffvdy2aFGXEdxf7Vquyjjwfhv-9aftkUMfsjv3oC3A28MN9R9UfsB833cm1k-9zXeDoD7hkewBYkQ9ht5036RILnk3EWKebE-Ygbb7suuufXbig020Den_IbSkQGOGoIHjCRUoct4EIP/s400/sheep.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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A common catch phrase among Christians is that we are to be "in the world but not of the world." This isn't an erroneous concept, but it oversimplifies what the scriptures describe as a more complex approach to the world in which we live.<br />
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On the one hand, I John 2:15-17 tells us clearly, "Do not love the world or anything in the world." That' what we're supposed to<i> put off</i>. Actively, intentionally reduce the ways in which you are in love with the world and it's ways.<br />
<br />That same apostle, John, gives us the corresponding opposite intentional action, the things we're supposed to<i> put on</i>. "God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16)<br />
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That's a lot of love. Given that our mission in this world is to share the gospel and shepherd the people of the world to be reconciled with God, does it make sense for us to do anything less than to love the world the way God does?<br />
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He certainly doesn't love the evil done by the people of the world. He doesn't love their hard heartedness, but He does love their hearts and wants to touch their hearts with his love.<br />
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We are not of the world, but God has placed us in this world in order to be His ambassadors of light in the dark corners of the world. We're charged with refreshing the world by being His salt<br />
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John 17:14-15 records Jesus' prayer to His Father regarding His disciples.<br />
<blockquote><i>
I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one</i>.</blockquote>
The day will come when Jesus takes all His followers out of the world, to join Him in our eternal home before the throne of God. But until that time, our purpose is to make our homes in the place where He has put us, among the people who don't know there is a better home.<br />
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If we throw our lives into living out that mission, rather than constantly fighting against the evildoers and the imperfections of this world, the Lord will protect us and bless us while we're here.<br />
<blockquote>
<i>Trust in the Lord and do good;<br />
dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture</i><br />
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Psalm 37:3</blockquote>
Dwelling in the land implies much more than just squatting on the land or taking up a temporary, detached residence in a place.<br />
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The Good Shepherd of Psalm 23 adn Ezekiel 34 has brought us into a land that may be filled with dangers, but He will always provided green pastures in which we can rely on His protection and guarantee of eternal safety.<br />
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As long as He is with us, we can live joyfully in this world, even among the evildoers, as living examples of His goodness and grace.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2544656220577263817.post-32875294258754719092020-11-15T10:00:00.002-06:002020-11-15T10:00:06.173-06:00A Pandemic of Loneliness<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOLzNfy0_rjA5tvN5cPG67H5DKys7SxV2XcpkruCeNbp5RT15bnz7O_VnLBPaqQozu_yYcKxWGPSzT7BT985QT2W1Bv3gjFJRAze9xnxiEPK7aRy8gdZ4GrJ_PjeqDIKB_sI27gR2XHu9o/s960/lake.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="960" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOLzNfy0_rjA5tvN5cPG67H5DKys7SxV2XcpkruCeNbp5RT15bnz7O_VnLBPaqQozu_yYcKxWGPSzT7BT985QT2W1Bv3gjFJRAze9xnxiEPK7aRy8gdZ4GrJ_PjeqDIKB_sI27gR2XHu9o/w400-h300/lake.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p>I am lonely.</p><p>As I write this, it's Sunday morning, the 15th of November, in the year 2020, the loneliest of years. </p><p>As of today it's been 36 Sundays since my wife and I went TO church. It's kind of lonely sitting in my basement, watching on my computer screen as the "assembly of the saints" assembles on the other side of town.</p><p>We've been able to continue meeting with our small group, or Life Group, on Monday nights, via Zoom. In fact, we've had significantly fewer cancellations since we began meeting online than we did when we were gathering at our house. Our group has actually thrived during this time, like never before. I think it's because we're all a bit lonely, and we crave the virtual togetherness. We've opened our hearts and souls to one another on Monday nights, sharing our trials and frustrations, our emotional swings, our loneliness.</p><p>And I have been lonely. In March I left my office at the university for the last time, moving my laptop, it's dock, three screens, keyboard, mouse, speakers -- the whole setup - to my basement. What I didn't move to my home were my office mate and all the other people I used to see every day at work. There have been some lonely and difficult days, working at home.</p><p>And then, in August, my job left me. I was one of many who have been laid off. After 41 straight years of working full time, settled into the routine of going TO work every day, I no longer even had that. It's a whole new level of isolation. And loneliness.</p><p>There's a particular depth of loneliness that comes when you begin to suspect you've been caught out, finally exposed as a fraud. </p><p>The thing is, there has been an incredible upside to being at home these past eight months. For the first time in 42 years of marriage, my wife and I have been together at home nearly all day every day. </p><p>It's good. We talk more often. We talk longer. Our individual lives have adjusted to one another's schedule and rhythm. It's very good.</p><p>And yet, still, even as we are together more than ever, it's still true that we are lonely.</p><p>But we know we're no different than nearly everyone else, especially during this year, during this Covditide.</p><p>We're all experiencing a Pandemic of Loneliness.</p><p>I know there are others, including friends in my own home church, who have also been sent home from their workplace, either to remote in from home or to not work at all (except for the never ending task of competing with all the other lonely people who are trying to find a job).</p><p>There are other people, moms and dads, who have had to quit working or remote from home or make drastic adjustments to their work schedule so they can be at home with their children who can no longer go TO school. All these parents sincerely want to be there for their children, but there is still a guilty loneliness that comes with such a drastic change.</p><p>And let's not forget the kids themselves. They're still able to DO school, with the help of a computer or tablet. But they're not IN school, not physically WITH their classmates and teachers. Karen is teaching piano lessons by way of Zoom, and she hears the loneliness in their voices when she asks them how school is going.</p><p>On the other end of the age spectrum are the senior citizens. The grandmas and grandpas and others who are at highest risk from this virus, but are physically isolated from the very people who could be their emotional support - their families and friends. I've only been in the physical presence of my son. Cody, twice in these 8 months. It's lonely.</p><p><br /></p><p>People will say, At least you know that God is always with you. And this is true. But just knowing that doesn't really make me feel any less lonely.</p><p>This may sound like a strange thing to suggest, but I think Jesus was sometimes lonely. If he went through everything we go through, he surely must have had his lonely times.</p><p>Throughout this time I've been drawn again and again to the biblical record of Jesus going to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray.</p><p>There in the Garden, on that last night, Jesus went with his disciples to the Mount of Olives. He left most of the followers behind and took just his closest friends farther in with him. And then, it says in Luke 22:41, he went even farther, about a stone's throw beyond them, and knelt down and prayed.</p><p>It's so often true that, even in our loneliness, we just need to withdraw from people. Even Jesus, on the loneliest night of his life, felt the need to talk and pray with his closest friends, but then felt the urge to take those extra steps to be even more alone with his loneliness.</p><p>Why did he do this? Because it was his habit. </p><p>In Luke 5:16 we're told that when the crowds were pressing in on him, Jesus would escape not only the crowds but also his friends. It says he "often withdrew to lonely places and prayed."</p><p>Jesus knew the truth that just assuming God's presence isn't the same as intentionally dwelling in his presence. He knew that the best answer to loneliness is to embrace that aloneness by finding a lonely place, and to intentionally spend a significant amount of time dwelling in the presence of the Father.</p><p>And that's what he chose to do on the night when he was about to be betrayed. </p><p>What could be more lonely than to be betrayed? </p><p>To be honest, I feel betrayed by the people who laid me off. The very people who so often told me how important I was to the work we were doing, they kicked me to the curb and I haven't heard from them since. </p><p>Betrayal and loneliness go hand in hand.</p><p>Jesus was so lonely, he begged the Father to find another way. "If possible, let this cup pass from me!"</p><p>Later, on the cross, he would cry out to the Father again in agonizing loneliness: "My God, my God, Why have YOU forsaken me?"</p><p>I know very well that some of the anger, the sense of betrayal that I have struggled with during this time is, deep down, my anger at God. Sometimes it feels like He is the one who has betrayed me.</p><p>When Jesus went back to his disciples, his closest friends, they were asleep. He asks them, "Couldn't you men keep watch with me for one hour?" That's the agony of loneliness in his voice. </p><p>Loneliness craves people who care. Anyone who cares. </p><p>The next time you share in the communion cup and bread, meditate on Jesus' loneliness on that last night. And then think about the people you know who are probably lonely and plan how you can intentionally encourage them. Also, make a plan for how you can intentionally seek out a lonely place in the midst of your own loneliness, and go deeper than you ever have in your study and prayer to become closer to God.</p><p><i></i></p><blockquote><p><i>My Father,</i></p><p><i>If it is possible, may this cup of loneliness be taken from me. And may it also be taken from my friends here at Blue Ridge, and from the many millions who are in agony during this Pandemic of Loneliness.</i></p><p><i>Thank you, Jesus, for walking the lonely path to the cross. Thank you for your lonely sacrifice.</i></p><p></p></blockquote><p><br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2544656220577263817.post-65107827288079938692020-11-09T08:30:00.007-06:002020-11-09T08:30:00.343-06:00Psalm 37:3 Do Good for the Lord<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH_VIc_a6QCKkNFXH0y6xkpWkg2ed8qnmgsa-3tDW7G0oeNqLZ_xs6ASnvqfDPcvN5azGQrQQTfDdhG2VCFCglOnmqbAHZeSEtE18dMQ9EeY5bDKAYJRw2wAbIUmlh5D-g8gt73hRz08jM/s1600/goofus.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="193" data-original-width="268" height="230" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH_VIc_a6QCKkNFXH0y6xkpWkg2ed8qnmgsa-3tDW7G0oeNqLZ_xs6ASnvqfDPcvN5azGQrQQTfDdhG2VCFCglOnmqbAHZeSEtE18dMQ9EeY5bDKAYJRw2wAbIUmlh5D-g8gt73hRz08jM/s320/goofus.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
As a kid, the only good thing about a trip to the doctor or dentist was the <i>Highlights </i>magazines that were in every waiting room. The full-page <i>Hidden Images</i> puzzle could keep me busy for quite a while. And the jokes and stories were fun.<br />
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But my favorite part of each <i>Highlights </i>was the <i>Goofus and Gallant</i> cartoon. For a kid raised in a church culture of right vs. wrong, good vs. evil, the simple morality of Goofus and Gallant was appealing.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Goofus: "Gimme a pencil!"<br />
Gallant: "Please give me a piece of paper."</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Goofus: "How much will you pay me to shovel your walk, Aunt Sue?"<br />
Gallant: "I'll shovel the walk, Dad!"</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Goofus: "I wish I had no little brother."<br />
Gallant: "I'm glad I have a little brother."</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Squirrels are scared of Goofus.<br />
Squirrels eat from Gallant's hand.</blockquote>I question the wisdom of the lesson that last one was teaching to young readers, but you get the idea. Most of them were simple little two-panel morality plays. Others were disturbing in their depiction of a juvenile sociopath contrasted with an overly perfect child.<br />
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In Psalm 37, David offers up his own contrast, this time between the evildoers of verse 1 and the "good doer" of verse 3.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>Trust in the Lord and do good,,,</i><br />
<br />
Psalm 37:3</blockquote>
It might appear that David is presenting an overly simplified contrast in the same tone as Goofus and Gallant. But in the context, David is laying out three possible ways a follower of God might respond when he or she feels like fretting or envying in reaction to evildoers.<br />
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One option is to give into your worst inclinations and react with your own bad actions. Allow your anxious fretting to fester and turn into resentment. Let your envious heart take action against the object of your negative thoughts.<br />
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This is the route that leads to Christians filling social media with "Christianized" versions of the mean memes, half truths, and politicized spin used by the evildoers of the world.<br />
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Another option would be to make a show of doing good. This sort of behavior is the kind that earns the dismissive label of "do-gooder".<br />
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The do-gooder constantly reminds people he's the type of person who "doesn't smoke, doesn't drink, and doesn't go with girls who do", as though such elemental morality best represents the heart of God. Evil doers generally react negatively toward such people because they come across as fake and condescending toward people who live differently.<br />
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If the only things you can offer to unbelievers is a list of things you don't do, if the primary good thing you lay claim to is going to church, they're probably going to dismiss you as nothing more than a hollow do-gooder.<br />
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The third option is to seek constructive and productive ways of doing good. I'm talking about the kind of good things that are out of the ordinary, the sort of lifestyle that strikes people as genuinely sacrificial and loving.<br />
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When the evil deeds of the world frustrate you, find a way to help make the world better. Get messily involved in the messy lives of messy people. Help the poor and the homeless, feed the hungry, mentor people who have hit rock bottom, go out of your way to care for the sick and elderly.<br />
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Give it a try. You'll be amazed at the difference it makes for you and for others.<br />
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Doing practical good can redirect the urge to respond to ungodly people with your own evil actions or self righteous behavior. It engages the biblical principle of putting off your bad habits and putting on good habits (Ephesians 4:17-32).<br />
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Doing good is also the best way to draw people toward the Lord - even the very evildoers who frustrate you. If you can learn to see them not only as people who are doing evil, but also as people whose only hope is to know Jesus, it becomes easier to re-train your "knee jerk" reactions toward productive goodness.<br />
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Train your heart away from Goofus, beyond Gallant, and toward Godly.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0