Schemer

I am reading the Bible in a year again. I have mentioned this a lot, and I have posted the site which has the plan I am using. It seems to work for me - I would recommend that you give it a try. Here, again, is the site:

http://www.biblegateway.com/resources/readingplans/index.php/today

Now, when I have done this in the past, I have run into days and days where the reading just seems to drag. There are passages in the Old Testament which have long passages given over to detailing the law, and proscribing how people are to live together with their spouses, relatives, friends, neighbors, even enemies. God obviously does take these things seriously, and so should we.

But as I am reading about what you owe a person when you borrow their ox and it falls into a hole and dies, compared to what you owe them if you rent that same animal, and how that is compounded if the owner of said animal is present when the accident takes place... I have to begin to do what I do in my little Chas brain: look at the grand scheme of things. I'm just that way: as I begin to get those glazed eyes and want so much to go do something - anything - else but read about these amazing details, I stick with it. And out of it comes a big picture, a 'grand scheme.' That is: God loves us, and really wants us to get along with each other.

I have had friends and relatives who were into rock collecting. They would pick up seemingly worthless stones, take them home and set up their special saw to cut them in half. It can take hours for the machine to cut through to find out what you have. In some cases, they get two worthless stones out of one. But in other cases they have a geode, which contains crystal structure of stunning beauty. So it goes with God's word: you need to dig in to find the things of worth. So if you are with me in reading the Bible through this year, stick with it. Look for the Grand Scheme - and expect the unexpected.

OH - I almost forgot: some of those stones which ended up not being pretty on the inside got tossed into the polisher. This was a machine which tumbled them with other rocks and sand. You set it and forget it, and come back in days, even weeks to see what the progress is. Some of the ugliest stones can turn into the most beautiful things when they are polished up. And they get that way simply by rubbing up against the other stones amidst the grit and grime of the tumbler. Sort of like our lives, if you think about it...

Pay up!

I just read the story of the unmerciful servant, from Matthew 18:21-35. You know the story: the King calls a man in and demands what he is owed. The man begs for patience, saying he will pay all he owes to the King. Instead, the King forgives the debt and sets the man free. But very soon the man comes across another man who owes HIM some small sum, and he demands the money - to the point of having the second man tossed into debtor's prison.

I also read in Exodus 20 where the Ten Commandments are given, and they start with, "You shall have no other gods before me."

In both instances I thought to myself - no, I'm good on both accounts. I don't have other gods before the Lord (Idols), nor have I ever tossed anyone into prison for owing me but not paying me money.

But wait. Have I? There are people who have done me wrong, either by taking from me, or by failure to pay for things I have sold them or done for them. I'm trying to be vague here on purpose: I don't want to start going down a list of debts in writing nor in my mind. That's my whole point: Jesus told us, "28But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

Eugene Peterson renders that passage this way in 'The Message:' 27-28"You know the next commandment pretty well, too: 'Don't go to bed with another's spouse.' But don't think you've preserved your virtue simply by staying out of bed. Your heart can be corrupted by lust even quicker than your body. Those leering looks you think nobody notices—they also corrupt.

So - if I apply the words of Christ to this situation, it might go something like this: "if I allow the anger, bitterness or simple unforgiveness to linger regarding any outstanding debt - then I am guilty of the debt myself and am sinning."

So - to answer the question which I'm sure is on your mind: No, I have never chased a debt (or debtor) into court and/or into jail. I trust God to bring in what is owed to me. But am I that pure in my mind? Do I actually forgive those who owe me?

Well, I do now.

Scary word for the day (3)

Spiritual Discipline

Moses lead the people of Israel out of Egypt. There are hundreds of new lessons to be learned as the people walked through the desert toward the promised land. The distance they eventually covered could have been marched in a month or two - much faster by an army or a small party, but with the massive crowd scene which was Israel, they moved much slower. But not that slow! So why did it take forty years for them to finally get there? They had some learnin' to do. So many things were put into place in the lives of the Nation and People of God during that time that I doubt even God could have done it any faster.

One of those things which was established during the Exodus was Rest. Sabbath is the formal term, and it is so well documented in the Bible that it truly is a Spiritual Discipline we should be practicing today. What are these "Spiritual Disciplines?" They are amazing things which every Christian should know about, practice regularly, and they are things which should be taught from every pulpit but rarely are.

Things like Fasting, Prayer, Silence, Solitude, Study, Blogging (OK, I may have added that one myself), and a few others. To hear evangelicals like Dallas Willard and Richard Foster tell us that we need practices that were never spelled out in the Bible to become more like Christ or to get closer to God is astonishing. What is more astonishing is that evangelical colleges and seminaries are requiring their students to study practices that are relics of Medieval Rome, not found in the Bible, and closely akin to the practices of many pagan societies. So I am careful when I begin to add things to my Christian life which I cannot find in the Word.

Some very simple behaviors are very good at helping us to grow Spiritually, but are not really Spiritual Disciplines. "Keeping record," or "counting your blessings" is mentioned here and there, and it has grown into Journaling for me. Good practice, not a Spiritual Discipline. But there are plenty which DO show up and I think God is calling me to stop playing with them, and get serious about making them part of my life on a regular basis.

Take a look at them, try them - even test them - and see for yourself the value of bringing yourself under submission in these ways. I think any of us who have cracked the Bible in our lives can point to things like Fasting and Prayer. Bible study is all over the place from "Study to show thyself approved" to dire warnings like, " 18I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book. 19And if anyone takes words away from this book of prophecy, God will take away from him his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book."

Well, then I think I should look at these things. Rest is one we seem to love to ignore in our society. Our days of 'rest' can be quite full! I'm a great one to talk about this: I can get up at the crack of dawn, take my boat - lovingly and carefully prepared the day before and loaded with gasoline, food and toys - and drive a couple of hours to the lake, spend the whole day dragging people around the place at the end of a rope, get a sunburn, a sore back and stiff neck, come home exhausted and broke and then work a couple more hours cleaning and putting away all the toys and stuff, parking the boat and trailer, then doing a load of towels and cleaning rags in the laundry, showering off all the sunblock which may or may not have worked for me... and call that a day of 'rest.'

God institutes the idea of Sabbath or 'day of rest' during the march through the desert. See the narrative of how God began to feed the people miraculously as recorded in Exodus. Moses explains how the people are to handle the amazing food which God literally rained down on them. See chapter 16: 19 Then Moses said to them, "No one is to keep any of it until morning."

20 However, some of them paid no attention to Moses; they kept part of it until morning, but it was full of maggots and began to smell. So Moses was angry with them.

21 Each morning everyone gathered as much as he needed, and when the sun grew hot, it melted away. 22 On the sixth day, they gathered twice as much—two omers [b] for each person—and the leaders of the community came and reported this to Moses. 23 He said to them, "This is what the LORD commanded: 'Tomorrow is to be a day of rest, a holy Sabbath to the LORD. So bake what you want to bake and boil what you want to boil. Save whatever is left and keep it until morning.' "

Wow: "Rest" and "Holy" in the same sentence. Who'd of thought it?

Well, apparently God does.

Scary word for the day (2)

Miracle.

I have faith. I know it's in here somewhere. But I can't always find it when I need it. I have so many needs - finances are amazingly tight right now, and I am working to get myself into better physical shape, our church is attempting to launch a new offensive against apathy and spiritual stagnation, people I know and care about are sick, homeless, out of work, and my cars are beginning to show their age.

So - of the statements in the paragraph above, which one holds the most power to change my life? Well, I sure hope it's the one about faith.

I am reading the Bible daily now - not something I have done for awhile. I enjoy creating blogs, journals, teachings and such, so I tend to study for those. I can go on for days on a single passage or chapter or book of the Bible. But then when I finish I may not open the word for awhile again. But I have been challenged to get into a simple, daily reading plan. To take in the word even when I am not expected to put it out. I'm using the plan available here at Bible Gateway.com

Today I read about several miracles. God is a miracle-worker, and I think today's Christian wants to downplay that sometimes. But He was, and still is in the business of interrupting our business, and our daily lives. And when God moves into our daily lives, things happen which go beyond our expectations. When God shows up - well, things happen.

Today I read about the nation of Israel leaving Egypt - as slaves with limited permission - and coming smack up against the Red Sea. Back in Bible College we learned the most likely route that the Israelites would have taken, and we had to study maps and photos of the region. There is no actual remnant of the event left on the ground, no GPS coordinates recorded in stone, no Historical Monument marker showing us the exact location that they came to the Red Sea, so some scholars postulate that the place at which they stopped, and then crossed the Red Sea was a delta area in which the water could have been miles wide, but only about a foot or six inches deep. Other scholars believe that they know the location with certainty based on city locations, sonar readings, new maps, and even gold-plated chariot wheels found on the bottom of the sea.

I'm OK with our arrogant presumption that we know what the Bible doesn't carefully spell out for us. I'm OK with the scholarly attempt to locate the exact place, and I'm OK with the fact that it happened so long ago and that the natural habit of rivers is to move, change, and shift their channels all the time. I have read a study which says it happened while still in Egypt, so it had to be the Nile River. I'm even OK with the 'fact' that the water may have been only six inches deep - because the Bible says that after the Israelites went through on dry ground, the Egyptians followed them in, and drowned.

So which is the greater miracle? That the Israelites made it across on dry ground with 'walls of water on each side,' or that the Egyptian army - to a man - drowned in six inches of water?

Lord - I need you to be God in my life. You are God, and I am not. Amen.

Scary word for the day

Sacrifice.

It's not a word or concept we fully appreciate in our society today. We are soft. My computer is getting slower and slower. My kids come over and clean it out now and then, and it gets marginally faster for awhile, but the thing is just old and most likely needs to be replaced. Mind you, it works, it's just slower than it was before by a few seconds here and a few seconds there. And that drives me nuts. Why? I mean, I have lived more of my life without a computer than I have with. I used to have to go to a library and look things up, or pull a book off the shelf here at home if I needed info. I had to order things out of a catalog over a phone, talking with a person. Or worse: I had to go to an actual store! And when I went into that store, I didn't have the model number, color, and all the technical specs for whatever it was I was there to pick up. Printed out in color, before I got into the car to drive to the store, with my GPS calling out the turns as I went.

No - we are a bit softer and we expect a bit more these days. And sometimes I wonder if that dulls our response to God.

God - "Go to Haiti and help rebuild."
Me - "OK - I have a week of vacation in July, and if I book now I can get a super saver rate, and use my air miles to upgrade to first class for free. And if I stay in the DR I can rent a car and get over the border with the supplies and tools I need."
God - "No, I want you to go now, and I want you to work with your bare hands, and I want you to sleep on the ground."
Me - "OK - what kind of adapter do I need for Haiti? I have to keep my Iphone charged.."
God - "Leave it all at home. Work with your hands."
Me - "Can I bring gloves at least?"

It gets worse. I have been part of our worship team for a decade or two. I watch people week after week sitting with their arms crossed on their chest. If they realized how similar that pose is to the way they sometimes prop up dead people in their coffins, I'm sure they would think about changing, but I guess it hasn't occurred to them yet. We provide the building with heat or AC as needed, light, a parking space out front, greeters and ushers to show them in, a seat, the words to the song is on a big screen with nice graphics, and the people leading are up there doing the best job they can to produce an atmosphere in which you would have to be just about brain dead not to feel called into worship. If there was a way to actually worship for them, I suppose it would complete the set, but so far we haven't figured that part out: they still have to enter in. They have to sacrifice that much.

There are weeks when I am able to keep my focus on God, and I can look out and see all kinds of people getting with the program. It's just that now and then I can't help but focus on those who seem to be asking us to just "try and get me to enter in: I dare you!"

But the Pastor has shared that there are weeks when he faces the same daunting task - preaching to a stone wall sometimes. And as a preacher myself in days gone by, and a teacher before that, I know the feeling. It is those moments of connection, those times when the whole place comes to life which have to keep us going: but they are like an oasis in a desert, and the oasis seems to be getting smaller while the desert grows.

But that is our sacrifice, as the one or ones up front. We do the prep, the practice, and painful prayer in the wee hours, and then we present with passion. And powerful alteration. But the idea of sacrifice seems to be one of those old-fashioned ideas which threatens our concept of personal peace and comfort.

Abraham finally got the son God promised him, and then God asked him to take the kid out and kill him on an altar as a sacrifice. OK. Not something we would even come close to these days. When Jesus came to earth - an act which most of us would consider to be enough all by itself - it was with the end goal of dying. And not by some quick and easy method. He endured one of the most painful experiences a human can go through as he died. He was an example of sacrifice, for us.

So - what is God calling us to do? It will be different for each one of us, but I can promise you one thing - it will involve sacrifice at some level. I have a quick test for us - myself very much included: if I am not experiencing some level of sacrifice in my service for God, then I am serving myself. And that is living a lie.

2 Samual 24:24 But the king replied to Araunah, "No, I insist on paying you for it. I will not sacrifice to the LORD my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing." So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen and paid fifty shekels of silver for them.

Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the LORD ? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams (1 Samuel 15:22) - in this case, the writer is not discounting sacrifice - specifically sacrifices on an altar - but he is acknowledging that as important as the sacrifices were, obedience is even more important. And in today's society, Jesus made allowance for our sacrifice. We no longer have to kill animals on an altar. But, to simply do what God asks of us often does involve giving up comforts. And to us that is a huge sacrifice.

Lord - help me see what you have given to me. At great cost to yourself. And let me search for things which you are calling me to do - such as sacrifice. I want to give up those things which you call me to give up, knowing that I can trust you to replace them with things of eternal value. Amen.

Life-controlling issues

I have some life-controlling issues, and I'm not ashamed to admit it. But there is a problem in the church today getting people to go there. Society in general is the same. It's a shame, too. Some life-controlling issues revolve around shame. Shame is a powerful thing which can keep people from admitting to problems, shortcomings, etc. And shame can also keep many of us from reaching out for help - of any kind. I'm not just talking about 'big' problems here. Even small issues can stop a person from growing and developing in big ways. BTW - 'shame' cannot work on a person who has dealt with pride in their life. It's one of those conundrums or 'vicious circle' things. If you say you are without faults, you are - in fact - admitting to one of the biggest faults a person can have.

Yet admitting we are flawed, admitting we need help, admitting we have failed at something - anything - can be the most freeing experience in a person's life. I have stood before groups - at our church, in other churches, and on various retreats - and confessed publicly about different failings, even addictions I have battled with over the years. So much so that if I begin to feel tempted in any of these areas again, I almost want to run to the nearest trusted friend and tell them about it so I can get moving in a healthy direction again. And, as such, I have become a sounding board for a handful of people who have found me to be trustworthy. Don't worry, I'm certainly not going to betray that trust here and now - it is priceless to me and to them - and so amazingly powerful at letting light into darkness.

So I'm going to be as clear as I can - nobody on this planet is free from Life-Controlling Issues. And yet nobody on this planet seems to want to take an honest look at ourselves. Or at least, precious few. Here are a few words from the Bible about the condition of man:

I'll put the references in case you would like to look them up for yourself to keep me honest-
Romans 3:23 'all have sinned and fall short of the Glory of God.'
Romans 3:10 'there is none righteous, no not one'
Isaiah 64:6 'All of us have become like one who is unclean,
and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags;'
1 Corinthians 15:22 'For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.'
1 Corinthians 15:34 'Come back to your senses as you ought, and stop sinning; for there are some who are ignorant of God—I say this to your shame.'

And if you dig deeper, you will find that the message of the Bible is consistent: God is Holy, His kingdom is among us, yet we have a problem which keeps us out of His presence - and that is called by an old fashioned word: 'sin.'

Fortunately, we also have a way-maker. A bridge-builder. A key to the kingdom. An 'all-access' pass. A way to overcome those flaws, life-controlling issues and other shortcomings which very much define the human condition. But for whatever reason, we can't make use of this connection to God unless and until we come to grips with the simple fact that we all have flaws, imperfections, sin, insert word here which makes you realize that there is something we need to change...

But change comes hard. Because the first step is to acknowledge that we need to change.

Please comment -

Thanks
Chas

Storm Watch 2010 - day two

OK - this blog is not really going to be about the weather. I'm sorry if that constitutes false advertising or something. But it is going to be about a storm in my life - from a long long time ago.

Jesus said, "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." John 16:33

I can't even claim that I found that in my morning Bible reading for today. Actually I am reading in Genesis, and I hadn't even opened the Word yet when I came across this verse as somebody's status on Facebook! But it challenged me, and comforted me all the same.

I am going to tell a story which might need a disclaimer: it is somewhat gruesome. Not graphic or awful the way today's PG13 movies have gotten, but - well let me just tell it and you decide. Let me know -

Many years ago I had a cyst under my arm. It bugged me, because it was pressing on a muscle and had made a huge purple bruise. Then, of course, it continued to press on that bruise all day and all night. I went to the doctor and he said we should open it and clean it out. Sounds like something you do to a carburetor or even your desktop computer when the fan gets covered with dust, but not part of my arm.

So the next day I showed up at the outpatient surgery clinic. The surgeon poked and prodded, and I thought for a minute he was trying to see if he could just pull the thing off by force - but he needed to be sure that it was in my skin, and not in the muscle below. That was so that he didn't end up hitting a nerve and ending my fabulous piano playing career. I was OK with that - but he was grabbing, tugging and squeezing on a very sore area, and I was about to tell him to just cut my arm off and be done with it - when he was finally satisfied and knew what he needed to do. So he gave the nurse some instructions, and went to scrub up.

This was such minor surgery - but it had my full attention, I can assure you. So after we swabbed the area down, and the nurse laid out the implements and supplies, the doc came back into the room and uttered the most amazing words I have ever heard a doctor say to me:

"We can't numb the area because of..." and then he rattled off some medical stuff which I didn't hear, didn't understand and didn't care about. I was back at the part where he said he couldn't numb the area. He was about to cut into me, but not be able to numb it. Whoa!

"What? Can't you use something topical? Or something.... ?"

"No, sorry." And this is when he said it. Those words I will never forget the rest of my life, if I live to be 55:

"This will hurt."

Holy moly! You know how they always tell you, "this won't hurt a bit," and then it hurts like crazy? Well he had just told me it WILL HURT! Oh man! I began to sweat immediately. OK - fast-forward to the end. Yes, it hurt. Mostly a burning as he cut into the flesh and so on. Enough about that. The point is what he told me. "It will hurt," and it did.

So, when we see Jesus telling us that "in this world you will have trouble," it is like that doc being honest with me and telling me it WILL hurt. I think we can take Jesus at his word every time, so when HE tells us we'll have trouble, bank on it.

But the good news is not that Jesus is honest, or that there will be trouble. The good news is that if we are smart, we will take the warning, and stop looking to the world for our comfort, our peace, our happiness, etc. We will take the warning that this world is set up for us to experience trouble.

But there is better news, because Jesus doesn't leave us there. He says, "But take heart! I have overcome the world."

That's just about the best news I have ever heard. It is no fun to bury a loved one, lose a business, lose a home, lose anything for that matter. It is no fun to put up with the way that people sometimes treat each other, or the various natural disasters which crop up. But Jesus promised us that he has overcome all that - so in the end, we will walk with Him.

I obviously survived my little surgery. In fact it took three more follow up visits which all had some pain as the packing was removed and a new one inserted, but the end result was healing. It worked out just the way the doctor intended. And I am quite sure that we can trust Jesus that our lives will also work out just as He intends.

You know, there is one other thing which comes to mind. Jesus said the exact words I have quoted above, but he also 'said' one other thing - this time without words. By coming to earth do die for us, he indicated that we needed a savior. In effect, he was telling us, "you are lost in your sin and headed for eternal death."

I am so glad he finished his wordless statement by coming and dying for us. He indicated that the price was now paid - that he had overcome our sin. Thanks, Lord, for telling us the truth. Every time.

Coasting

I had hoped this blog would be an extension of my personal journal - an outgrowth of my own personal study of God's word and the amazing truth that can truly revolutionize a person's life.

But I have re-read the last few blogs, and I have begun to see a trend toward just sitting down and typing. I can do that - it is sort of an outgrowth of the 'gift of gab' I am equipped with. But it doesn't guaranty the level of content I was aiming for when I felt called to start this blog.

Well - OK. I have changed other areas of my life, and I am well aware that this process, while painful, is not finished. I am going to try to dredge up the strength to change again. I can tell you that people can change. Note that I did not say 'change themselves.' No, in order to change, we have to do two things:

-see the need for change, and then
-cry out to God for the strength to change.

I don't think any of us are truly 'finished,' God loves us far too much to leave us stagnant. But He loves us enough that once we set out on the path toward change, He will not only equip us, He will lead, guide and direct.

I have studied God's word for all of my adult life. You really can't find a place where it says, "God has a wonderful plan for your life." You can find "plans to prosper you and not harm you," and, " I am the way," and "no man comes to the Father but by me," and many other verses where God lets us know that He will "make our paths straight."

But not "a wonderful plan for your life," which is what so many evangelists promise. Sometimes, the plan which God has for my life includes walking in the rain, doing push ups when I don't want to, working hard, watching people I love go through tough times, and even harder things. Because the plan God has for us is designed to build our character, not our comfort.

I was reading in Genesis this morning, and I got to the place where Isaac needed a wife. Abraham was old, blessed by God, but needed a wife for his son to carry on the family lineage. It was part of God's plan, and part of God's promise. So - Abraham chose a trusted servant. I don't think he chose by whim, or good looks, or smooth speech. He chose a servant who would make this mission his own, and would honor his master by putting every effort into it - and a man who would follow the leading of God.

And God DID lead the servant. In the message, this simple line is posted -

"26-27 At this the man bowed in worship before God and prayed, "Blessed be God, God of my master Abraham: How generous and true you've been to my master; you've held nothing back. You led me right to the door of my master's brother!"

For my friend Tom - here it is in the King James version:

" 27And he said, Blessed be the LORD God of my master Abraham, who hath not left destitute my master of his mercy and his truth: I being in the way, the LORD led me to the house of my master's brethren."

The point is - God does have a plan for our lives. The life of every major player in the word of God shows us this. There are example after example of it. There are promises made by God - and then kept down to the last detail. There are prophecies made and fulfilled, there are obstacles overcome from the tiny to the gigantic. Of course, some of those promises were utter desolation, ruin, and having your family and possessions wiped from the face of the earth. And even that serves as an example of the absolute faithfulness of God.

So - can I trust God to lead my life? Yes. Can I trust myself to get moving so God can steer me? I certainly hope so.

What's this water falling in my eye? It's coming from the sky!

Rain. The Bible says that God sends it to fall on the 'just and the unjust.'

It falls on good fields and poor fields, valleys and plains, concrete jungles and jungle jungles, people, animals bird, river bottoms, mountains, lakes, and far out to sea. The mountains, hills and valleys around us catch the water and collect it. If we are smart, we have put reservoirs in the right places to catch and hold the water for a dry day. Sort of like our spiritual life: we need to be people of the word and prayer in good times, so we have reserves of the spirit during dry times.

Of course, here in southern California we don't have enough rain to keep all of our lakes and reservoirs full all the time, so we move water from the northern part of the state - 300 miles away - to feed our growing population. That was water which fell as snow as well as rain on the mountains up north, and would have run out to the Pacific Ocean through the Golden Gate and other places if not diverted.

Thanks, Northern Cal! And thanks God. And thanks to those engineers and thinkers who found ways to catch, move, and hold all those millions upon millions of gallons of water. And make some fine water skiing lakes while they were at it. Bonus.

And now, if you'll excuse me - I have to go walk. In the rain. Or at least on the rain-soaked pavement - I seem to see a break in the rain for right now - so I'm going to go do a couple of miles and see if I can stay dry. If not, I have a nice warm shower and a clothes dryer waiting for me at home, so I'll just take the chance.

UPDATE-

Well, I'm back from my walk. I got to the 2 mile point when it started a little sprinkle. I enjoyed it! But I also headed for home. Total walked - 2.4 miles. I pushed it hard today - I could tell by the time, and by the fact that I was steaming up my glasses before the rain started to fall. I guess walking in a raincoat has some advantages and some disadvantages. Alright - get out there and own the day!

To old friends - or young friends from the old days.

I blogged yesterday about feeling old. I mentioned that we have seen amazing advancements in technology in our lives. I was wondering at the things I have seen invented, created, or perfected and brought into the mainstream of life during my time here so far.

Then I sent a text message to my friend Terry, the one I am meeting today for lunch. I lost track of Terry close to thirty years ago - but I began searching the Internet for any sign of him about five, ten or so years ago. I paid for one of those "There are fifty five thousand (Drop-dead gorgeous female) people looking for you right now" web sites that was supposed to have all of his records from our High School. They didn't. I casually did Google searches now and then for his name, his dad's name, I went to our High School Alumni web site, nothing.

Then I found MySpace. I was suddenly in contact with several friends from the old days. I have relocated from Northern California to Southern Cal, so I was not easy to find, and so many many people have also moved away from the San Fransisco Bay area into the far corners of the globe. What is it with us people? Why don't we put down roots and then stay there for a couple of generations? My dream was to own a large parcel of land where I could build a life, then build a small house for my kids to move into, then move them into the 'big house' when Hope and I were old and they had families.... nice dream. They don't make dreams like that anymore, do they? And they certainly don't pass those kinds of dreams on to our current generation, either.

So - MySpace connected me with many friends and relatives, but it seemed to be a passing fad, at least for most of my circle. Then it was Facebook. And I would search for Terry every once in a while. And finally, I began to find a few people with his same first and last name. So I sent out notes to all of them. Got a few lewd and crude responses, a lot of NO responses, and finally just gave up.

Then I got a note from Terry - the right Terry. He and I are meeting today for lunch. We have a lot to catch up on. The funny thing is - we did most of our catching up on Facebook already. But if all we do is laugh at all the exploits we shared in our youth, well, we might be there till dinner.

Let you know how it goes.

BTW - I want to say Thanks for reading this blog.

Wow - I'm old...

Wow - I skipped several days of blogging. I'm sorry! To those of you who read now and then, or daily, or every few hours, would you tell my wife to join the club please?

OK - it has been a whirlwind few days. Hope has sold a couple of spas out of our little store, and I get to do the deliveries now that we have let almost all of our employees go. We were out in Ojai yesterday, and it was a very nice day. The promise of rain, even the forecast for showers, but just a light sprinkle, and then the sun came out. This is Southern California, after all!

But tomorrow is a special day for me. I am going to go have lunch with a friend from High School. Terry was a buddy, a fellow musician, my first flight instructor, he was best man at my wedding, and he and I used to do stuff together, like drive up to San Fransisco and other places just to open up our horizons a little bit. He now is a captain on a Boeing 757 and flies all around the globe!

I won't tell you how long ago I graduated from HS, but suffice to say that this morning I was ruminating about the list of things which had not been invented yet, and it was a pretty long list. OK - Apple Computer was just coming out with it's first product a few miles from where I lived at the time. I think if I go back to my year of birth, you would be amazed at how many amazing advancements humanity lived without. Those were dark days technologically, yet we just didn't know how unhappy we were. Primarily because this "Entitlement Mentality" had also not been invented yet.

So - go enjoy your microwave, color TV, Jet travel, Starbucks, Cell Phone, and the thousand other advancements which we take for granted today. And think of us old folks having lunch tomorrow and reminiscing.

Watch yourself!

So - I have lost fifty pounds since I started last October. It's the new year, and that means I have 14 weeks into Weight Watchers. I lost five pounds before joining WW, so my next big milestone is going to be sixty. Then seventy - etc. See, the problem is: I really was almost one hundred pounds overweight. That qualifies as "morbidly obese." I had a party when I reached "fat," because it was such an improvement.

So - how does a man reach that much extra weight? Well, to quote myself, "I just stopped checking."

I didn't get on a scale anymore. And if I did happen to step on one, I was not really aware of what it was saying: I conveniently lost track of where I was supposed to be and how much I was up. Until one day I got did a Google search and found a chart with recommended body weight by height. There it was - OMG!! I was a hundred pounds high!

So - I thought I would provide a public service to you, my loyal reader. Here is a chart - check yourself!

Testing testing.

Our church is on a mission. To grow. No, I don't mean we are giving a car away to whoever invites the most people to church by Labor Day. I went to a church that did that a long time ago. No - this time we want to grow, individually.

It's a cool plan - first we hear some teaching about growth in the spiritual parts of our lives. Our Pastor is very good at this - an earned Doctorate from Fuller Theological Seminary, a couple of decades of Pastoral experience on two coasts, lots of common sense, and amazing ability to hear from God and speak to people.

After we hear about growth, hopefully we will become challenged to want to grow. Then we take a test. We did this last night, and we took it home to finish by next week. It's called a "Spiritual Health Assessment," and it is a simple test which has no real right or wrong answers. But if you take it with thought, and then follow through by comparing your choices with the material provided, you can begin to find areas of your Spiritual Health which you may want to improve upon. Really what it is is a map. Shows you where you are, and then where you want to be.

Then, we will devise a plan. Yes, a plan. So many of us plan for shopping trips, vacations, days at work, days off work, even our evenings and weekends may be planned out to the minute. And many of us have a schedule which is their real 'boss' at work - I am one of those. As a technician I have to try to get around to customers' homes in an efficient manner and avoid call-backs to be profitable. And as the business owner, I have to be sure the sales floor is covered, merchandise arrives just on time, parts and supplies have to be on hand in just the right levels, bills have to be paid on time. Planning is a huge part of my life!

BUT -

I have no plan for my spiritual growth and development. How about you? Well, that's what we are working on as a church. And as individuals, I hope we will catch the vision: We all need to grow, and failing to plan is planning to fail when it comes to growth.

If there ever was an area where we need to examine ourselves, then form a plan for improvement, it is our Spiritual Health. Join me.

More

I was reading in Numbers 16 yesterday and this morning. The story of Korah. It is a story of the quest for power by leaders. Not ordinary members of the congregation of Israel, but famous, powerful men. Men in who God had already entrusted great responsibility. The problem? They wanted more.

I was at a meeting once, a couple of decades ago, in which I was being asked to join the sales force for Amway. I didn't know that was what the meeting was about when I agreed to show up, nor did my wife, but once we were there it would have been rude to do what I wanted to do: run away screaming and never go back to that house again... so we stayed. The guy who spoke said something which has stuck with me to this day. He said, "we are not greedy, we just want more."

I didn't catch it then, but I saw later that that was a very nice way of hiding the truth - greed IS wanting more. More than you have, more than somebody else has, more than God may have in mind for you to have... more.

That's what Korah and his henchmen wanted - more. More power. More recognition. They surely did not think they were being greedy, they just wanted a bit more. And if Moses was pushed aside in the process, so be it. In fact, they openly stated that Moses had taken too much power on himself and they deserved some of it, or all of it.

But God had a plan for Israel, and no man or group of men were going to overthrow that plan by force, by persuasion, or by getting the leading clans to riot. God didn't seem to be surprised - He knew how to handle such a rebellion. He caused the earth beneath them to open up and swallow them alive - man, woman, child, even possessions. There was not a trace that they had ever existed when the dust settles. Think that was harsh? Well, warning was given. Not only to the followers of this rebel, but to the others to move away from these wicked men.

Go God! But, uh, Lord? I am part of leadership too. Help me not to get in the way - and most of all: help me not to start wanting ...

...more.

A Dream. Just that.

I had a dream. Right off the bat I need to say two things:
It was one of the most vivid dreams I have ever had: I saw faces I knew, I was saying names of specific people I knew, colors, sounds, emotions. All were there in full effect. I don't think my wife was in the room with me at the time, I slept late this morning fighting the last of a cold, and she was up shredding Christmas decorations. But as such, I can't ask if I was talking in my sleep, but I suspect I probably was.

The other thing I need to say right off is that I took Nyquil last night before going to bed (early) so it could very well be nothing more than the lingering effects of that. I don't want to give credit where it is not due, so I am trying to be up front about that.

The dream was amazingly vivid, and if I tried to write it all out with conversations and so forth it could take me hours. I will most likely do that for my own journal (you folks didn't thing you get to read ALL my inner-most thoughts now, did you?), but for the purpose of this blog, let me just get to one point. Before I do, I want you to know that I had all the names, dates, places and people as clear as if I was looking at a photo, or in some cases as if I was standing there speaking with the people involved. And they all had one thing in common - they had all once attended the church I now serve, but have all gone on for one reason or another. Some because of job transfers, others have gone into hiding - that is, they show up Sundays but are just spectators now - and most had gotten offended at something and left in a huff over the years. Be assured, I am not going to name names here in this blog, and I really don't want to give any clues to try to help you guess identities. And also be aware: I carry a burden for these people still. Some I pray for personally, others I pray for their child or children.

The bottom line is this - we were in Las Vegas on some sort of youth choir tour. During a concert some of the young people had an experience with God. We decided to stay around after the local hosts: the church people, had all gone home and pray as a group. During that time of intense prayer, one of our young people died. He did not just drop dead, as the medics and first-responders were saying - his life was ended by the Spirit of God. We all knew it. That may sound like the ramblings of a strange person, and some of you may be re-thinking your desire to read future blogs or notes from me. Fine. This is not about me.

In the events that followed, we bumped into some other people who did not know about what had happened. They 'just happened' to be in town, and were offended when we did not laugh and dance with them. But finally we told them why we were all so sad and upset. It caused them to repent on the spot of some bad things they had allowed into their lives.

There were so many more vivid images, so many conversations that I am almost shaking as I try to type. I don't want these images, but I have this feeling that this was some sort of message. For who? Well, fist for me. Then? I don't know. Don't look for a punch-line at the bottom, this is not a joke. I am going to cut it off at that.

In discussing this with my wife just a short time ago she mentioned that there were times in the Bible were the Spirit of God ended a person's life. Old testament and New Testament, there was a common theme. The person involved had sin or sin issues in their life. I am going to launch a study into this later, but I also have some recollections of Bible stories about whole groups, families, tribes, even nations which God removed from the face of the earth. Some because of wrong living, others because of personal sin, still others because they introduced sin into the rest of the people.

So what am I saying? Keep it simple. I had a dream. That's all I am saying. What is God saying? I don't know about you, but I get the feeling that there are some things in my life which need to be cleaned out. And God takes that very seriously.

Perspective

I went to Marina del Rey on Saturday with my daughter. We drove in, parked, put some coins into the meter, and strolled around a bit. There were nice sidewalks under shade trees, next to beautiful lawn areas. There were covered picnic areas, a decorative pedestrian bridge, clean public restrooms, and of course the view of the boats coming and going was spectacular. But I was worried that my daughter would get the wrong idea about the place. All she was seeing was the park-like setting of the dry part. I had a much more in-depth knowledge of the waterways, slips, chandleries, pump-out stations and even the harbor patrol. Because I had used the marina as a boater. I knew that they had a very tall flagpole with a huge American flag right at the entrance to the harbor, and that it was placed there to guide boaters into the entrance to the marina from the ocean. And it worked! I remember the first time I motored into the marina and had no idea where the actual entrance was - except that we figured it had to be near the flag and it was.

My brother-in-law and I had purchased a boat in San Pedro, and were moving it up to Ventura. On the way, a blockage developed in one of the cooling injectors on one part of the exhaust system. That allowed a rubber hose to burn off, and exhaust started spewing into the cabin and cockpit area. We pushed on, because we were a mile or two offshore at the time, but soon we began to feel the effects of the carbon monoxide. We said things to each other that were sillier than usual, and that's saying a lot. Doug climbed up on the fore deck, to get some fresh air, and I hung my head over the side next to the helm. But it didn't work well enough and we were both starting to get nauseous. So we shut down the main engine and just waited for the breeze to clear the fumes. It didn't take long to go from a lazy, happy feeling of confused ease, to a rising panic: we were miles from shore by that time, and we couldn't rely on our vessel to get us home safely.

That's when we spotted the flagpole, and with a glance at the chart, we knew Marina del Rey was our hope and salvation. It was a beautiful day, we had lots of fuel, water, food, and we had left plenty early, so we were in no hurry - we just floated around for a good hour or so to be sure our heads were as clear as they usually are, and finally we started up the engine and did our best to breathe the fresh air coming over the windshield, or along the sides of the vessel. We put the power to her, and made a mad dash for that flagpole. We mush have done alright, because we didn't get sick the rest of the trip, and we motored into Marina del Rey and tied up at the public dock. It took us a while to find that mooring, and then to find the chandlery, but in the end we stayed one night, fixed the boat and left the next morning at dawn.

So you can understand why I thought of the place as more than just a park. It's all in the perspective. I don't have a boat large enough to go out on the ocean right now, so I doubt Kristen will ever see the side of Marina del Rey that I saw all those years ago - it will have to be up to her imagination I suppose. But isn't it that way with much in our lives? We see things from the perspective of our experience, and have a hard time understanding that others have vastly different experiences with the very same things.

Our heavenly Father sees things much differently than we do - and it must tickle Him when we beg to get out of some 'trial' or other unhappy time only because we can't see it from His perspective. He sees the maturing, growing, new found wisdom, and developing that comes from all the things He allows into our lives. We may only see the pain, the fear, and we may see some of the results, but most often not right away.

But just as Doug and I had to trust the landmark of that Flagpole, and the chart which told us that was the way to safety - even though we were in a mental fog at the time - we need to

2Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.