A weak week

I can't believe a week has flown by since I last blogged. I am speaking at my church this Sunday, so I assure you I HAVE been up early each morning, studying and writing. But most of it will end up in my sermon... wait... only some of it will end up in my sermon, but I still didn't want to post it here for the one or two people who would have to read it, then hear it again on Sunday.

My daughter!! Oh man! I have never wanted to hop on an airplane and go give her a hug so badly as right now. She hurt her foot - and doesn't even know exactly how she did so - and is having a very hard time walking around the campus. The school she attends is not all that huge by University Standards, but it's no tiny little thing either, so I can imagine her limping around and arriving late to classes and all that. None of which is normally acceptable to her. But it gets better -

She chose a difficult topic for a ten-page research paper, and it has been tough going. She has admitted - and this is the first time I think I have ever heard he say this - that it is real tough taking in all this new data and even beginning to put it down in the form of a ten page paper is about to beat her. That's huge, and I have been praying for her. But then a day or two ago she posted on Facebook that somebody stole her laptop computer. She doesn't have a desktop or a backup computer - so she has to *limp* to the Library and do her work on the school's computers. None of this would be fun for anybody, but she truly had her 'life' on that computer, so I can't tell you how much I want to go to her, hug her, make her smile, and then 'solve' all of this.

But, of course, the most important lessons in life are generally learned outside of the classroom, so we are praying, and staying here.

If you see this Kristen - we love you, and we are praying for you. You WILL own this.

With authority

Mark 1:21 They went to Capernaum, and when the Sabbath came, Jesus went into the synagogue and began to teach. 22 The people were amazed at his teaching, because he taught them as one who had authority, not as the teachers of the law.

I don't know any other way Jesus could teach really. Do you?

Power

Matthew 28
The Great Commission

16 Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 17 When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. 18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

I don't know which part of this I like the best! When Jesus says, "All authority in heaven and on earth," I get pretty excited. I have enough mental images (thanks Hollywood) of Jesus possessing the power of God - ALL the power of God - that it pretty much makes me realize that even though things rise up against me as I go about making disciples, nothing is going to be stronger than the fact that Jesus goes with me.

Don

I have a customer named Don who stopped by the store to pick up a few supplies the other day. Whenever he comes in it's a little like a scene from "Cheers." He has purchased two spas from us over the years, and we had to use a crane to install one of them. Things like that tend to make a customer memorable, but Don and I have struck up a bit of a friendship over the years on top of things. He will usually set his purchases on the counter and then pull up the stool we keep handy (just for this purpose) and we'll have a chat. Lots of laughter, and sometimes deep things get shared too. But the other day was unique. Don seemed to have something to say.

All throughout the years, Don has been open about the fact that Jesus Christ died to forgive his sins. That's almost exactly how he puts it, and I know it will come up to some extent during our conversation. I always agree, and if we delve into that topic it usually comes couched in a discussion of the different types of churches he grew up in, and how many similarities there are between Lutheran and Episcopalian churches, why Don will gladly refer to them as “pastor, reverend, padre, etc.” but he doesn't like to call the priests 'Father.' And things like that.

This has always been of interest to me, having a Bible College education, and being an observer of various types and denominations of churches. But I never understood what was driving this over and over as the years slipped past. I just assumed it was a point of contact, something we shared in common. That is - until this past visit.

After all the usual pleasantries, and a few smiles and giggles from Don's young daughter (who was only just added to their family as we delivered their second tub years ago and who is just adrable) Don sent her out to the car with their purchases, and then took his seat. To make a long story short, Don mentioned the fact that I had told him, close to ten years ago, that I had been a Pastor but was not any longer.

I have always sought to encourage Don in his faith, and strengthen the bonds of family and even encourage him toward more of a relationship with Jesus and less of a relationship with the church, but apparently I had failed. Because Don, all the time, had a burden for MY relationship with Jesus. When it finally hit me what was behind all of these conversations over all of these years, I had to stop and smile. I looked Don in the eye and told him - “Don, when I told you I had left the ministry, I should have told you that I did not do so because I lost my faith. Quite the opposite – I surrendered my credentials so I could better serve in our local church, which I have done from that day to this.”

The sigh that escaped from him told me all I needed to know. All this time, Don had been trying to tell me about Jesus, and get me back into a relationship with Him. Don was concerned for my eternal soul, and had been trying to help me back to faith! And I was so busy trying to do the same for him, that we had missed like two ships in the night. I was blessed, and smiled for hours about it.

Thanks Don, and thank-you Father God, for people like Don.

Leslie

I was awoken at two am by a car alarm. It seemed to be in my bedroom, but as I came out of sleep and began to focus, it sounded like it was right in front of my house.

I decided to run and look out the window, because our cars get tampered with about every two or three weeks, usually in the small hours of the morning, and I thought perhaps an alarm had caught somebody. Opening the window I saw a light on the wet pavement. Looked light somebody had dropped a flashlight.

I grabbed slippers, glasses, my own flashlight, no jacket, and ran out the front door. As I opened my front door and stepped out I saw my son (who lives very near) was on his front porch. It was the alarm in the car he was borrowing from a friend that had gone off. He had the key fob in his hand and he silenced the alarm. The night grew silent in a second. I heard what sounded like a cell phone with a loud vibrator going off - it was a very still night with just a slight drizzle. Drops were falling from the trees and houses all around. Bzz. Bzz. Bzzz.

I went out towards the street to see if there was anything that could clue us to what had happened, and that's when I saw her.

A small, pale face looked out from under the hood of a sweatshirt. A thin, very white face, not looking at all alive, eyes closed as if in peaceful repose, faced almost to the pavement, and bounced the light of my flashlight back at me like a finely polished statue. I wasn't sure she was even still with us. She was on her side, still astride a shiny blue bicycle. No blood, the bike looked intact. The light was coming from a headlight on the handlebars.

As I turned to Stephen we both said, "There's somebody there!" with that adrenaline-induced urgency that hits so suddenly when something like this sinks in to your brain. Stephen stepped back and asked my daughter in law to make the call, and it was so still I could hear her end of the conversation.

I moved in slowly. Keep in mind that I was still of a mind that we may be looking at somebody who had been trying to break into our cars. Funny how that thought took so long to go away. I heard moaning, and compassion took over in my head. She was coming around. The first understandable word out of her mouth was, "what happened?"

"You took a fall. The pavement is wet and slippery and you fell."
"Am I ok?"
"You bumped your head pretty good, I think," I said, as my flashlight lit up a growing bump on the right side of her forehead. It was growing fast, very fast. She tried to open her eyes and I moved the flashlight away.
"Jesus," she announced in a very shaky, soft voice, and I at once thought that I should have been praying for her instead of looking for clues of a break-in.

I have heard many people use the name of Jesus in ways that don't glorify Him, but she seemed to be sincerely calling out to Him, so I assured here that Jesus would help her, that He may have, in fact, already protected her. I instinctively reached out my hand and held hers. She gripped it tight. I said the name of Jesus a few times as I soothed her, and told her help was on the way.

The bump on her head had a tiny cut on it, not really bleeding, which showed no sign of road rash. Our street has a very long hill to it which tends to get bike riders and skaters up to amazing speeds. If she had come down on the pavement face first at speed, she would have laid open a good bit of skin deeply. Her hood may have protected her, or perhaps she ran into the back of the car, nobody will likely know, as we began to realize: she asked what happened again.

And again.

And again.

No memory of the incident. Her name was Leslie ___________, and she lived 'downtown,' and she wanted to know where her purse was. She began to talk a little more, in a soft voice. She added her other hand to mine, and as I asked her if she knew what had happened, she began to give me facts, as if she was trying to grapple with a foggy situation. She volunteered that she was thirty eight, and she wanted to know (again) what had happened.

Short-term memory loss. It was becoming obvious.

My answers got shorter - finally reduced to, "you fell and bumped your head." That would satisfy for only a moment before she would try to move, I would comfort her and tell her she should lay still, and she would ask again.

The police showed up first. They asked her a question or two, I pointed out the now-huge bump on her head and they seemed to understand in an instant that she was not going to be a good source of information. My son began to talk in detail to one of the officers from the second car which drove up right behind the first, and Leslie asked about her purse, tried to look around, and seemed to relax as I told her help was here.

The paramedics arrived and just a second later the ambulance. I told Leslie I was going to let go now, and she said, "don't leave." I told her I was going to be nearby, but the EMT wanted to look her over. I pointed out her purse to them, and they stepped in and took over. She had memory of some events leading up to her being out on her bicycle at two-am, but no memory of what happened.

We walked into the house as the police cars pulled away, one of them with Leslie's blue Schwinn in the trunk, then the big fire truck started up it's diesel engine and rattled away up the street. The ambulance left just a few minutes later, and we stood on the porch looking out at the empty street.

In seconds, something had happened which brought a young women into contact with us. Was she trying to take from us? Nothing pointed to that in any way. More likely, she just got going down our street and the slippery pavement took it's toll. No damage was visible in the beams of our flashlights as we went over the car. What happened?

We may never know.

But the name of Jesus proved it's worth one more time.

Valentines Day

I was reading in Leviticus 16 this morning. It is filled with tons of fine detail about the Day of Atonement. There are amazing preparations before the High Priest is ready to go (fearfully) into the 'Holy of Holies,' or the very presence of God.

I was impacted by the fact that if some little thing was awry, the entire nation might not have their sins atoned. The priest could be pulled out, dead, killed by the amazing presence of God.

And then I realized - we now have the right to come boldly into the presence of God. We have become a nation of priests, and the veil of separation has been torn apart. We can go into the presence of God without the fear of instant death.

It gave me pause. I simply said, "Good morning God - " and I realized that not only CAN we enjoy time in God's presence, He wants to enjoy time with His creation. He loves me and invites me into His presence.

What changed? Everything. Jesus' death provided a perfect, one-time sacrifice, which closed the gap, opened the Holy of Holies, paid the price, etc.

The detail of the High Priest's preparation for entering into the Holy of Holies once each year is nothing in comparison to the detail of the preparations made for Jesus to come as a baby, grow to be a man, and then die on a cross. The lineage of Jesus' family, the faithfulness of his human parents, every single little detail was arranged, and the prophets even laid them out for us centuries before.

God truly does love you - Happy Valentines day!

Pour out our best, for Him

Matthew 26Jesus Anointed at Bethany

6 While Jesus was in Bethany in the home of Simon the Leper, 7 a woman came to him with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, which she poured on his head as he was reclining at the table.

8 When the disciples saw this, they were indignant. “Why this waste?” they asked. 9 “This perfume could have been sold at a high price and the money given to the poor.”

10 Aware of this, Jesus said to them, “Why are you bothering this woman? She has done a beautiful thing to me. 11 The poor you will always have with you,[a] but you will not always have me. 12 When she poured this perfume on my body, she did it to prepare me for burial. 13 Truly I tell you, wherever this gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.”

When I found the Lord...

Sorry. Those of you who have a relationship with God in which you call Jesus 'Lord,' be aware. It's not technically correct to say that you found Him.

He found you.

Luke 19:10 (New International Version, ©2010)

10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

The Parable of the Ten Virgins

Matthew 25
The Parable of the Ten Virgins

1 “At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. 2 Five of them were foolish and five were wise. 3 The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. 4 The wise ones, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps. 5 The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep.

6 “At midnight the cry rang out: ‘Here’s the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’

7 “Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. 8 The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.’

9 “‘No,’ they replied, ‘there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.’

10 “But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut.

11 “Later the others also came. ‘Lord, Lord,’ they said, ‘open the door for us!’

12 “But he replied, ‘Truly I tell you, I don’t know you.’

13 “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.

Jesus loves us. But there are limits -

I know that sounds contradictory, but its not. Not at all. As a parent, I set limits on my kids - because I loved them. I knew better than they about such things that appeared inviting but which would rob them of life. In the same manner that I can be a loving father and expect certain things from my children, our heavenly Father can too. And He loves us like no earthly father ever could, ever will.

So - we love to say, "Jesus loves me," but are we ready when He calls? The church I attend is searching for a new pastor. And I have spoken with a couple of the potential candidates. The conversations end up going the same each time - "We are praying that the Lord would prepare the heart of whoever comes to lead us, as He prepares our hearts to follow. We want to be ready."

I sure hope I'm speaking the truth for all of us, or at least enough of us that we truly are ready when He calls.

The gold standard

You know, those ad placements don't always work in favor of the advertiser: I have listened to the hourly financial report on a Los Angeles radio station for years. Lately, it has been sponsored by some company selling Gold. But for the past several weeks the final part of the report has been something along the lines of, "And Gold is off, to a new low of..." but AS SOON as the reporter ends that sentence, the ad for buying Gold comes on and says, "Gold. It's the only investment which has not dropped in value, even in these tough financial times...."

You never know if that advertiser is listening to the station or not - they may have ads placed on many stations, but they always tell us that Gold is the one investment we will always wish we had when everything else collapses, and they quote predictions of $3000 per ounce. It's still going down.

Matthew 6:20
But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.

Sacrafice

I was reading in Leviticus this morning, and I have to admit that it can be dry reading. The detail which God demanded of the people in things involved in worship was amazing. The buildings and grounds of the tabernacle and temple, the clothes for the priests, the holy festivals and feasts, the diet of the people - all very carefully spelled out in fine detail. Today I read about the Burnt offering, the Grain offering, and the Fellowship offering. And the same thing popped up in all of them: the offering had to be perfect. The grain offering had to be made from "the finest flour," the animals had to be "without defect."

It hit me - as it has before - that the demands didn't quote any specifications for how the person was to be. No demands for special clothing, color, type, nothing. Why? Because the priest was not looking at the Israelite - the Priest was looking at the offering. THAT had to be just right.

God hasn't changed under the new covenant: He still looks at the offering, not the person. And our offering is Christ Jesus - the perfect offering.

John 1:29 (New International Version, ©2010)

John Testifies About Jesus
29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!

John 1:29 (The Message)

The God-Revealer
29-31The very next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and yelled out, "Here he is, God's Passover Lamb! He forgives the sins of the world!

Radical thoughts

God is our source of supply - and if you look up new testament references to "supply," you will get a surprise. God seems to be a communist. What? Now - before you react, I want to define some terms. That is so very important, because so many of us use terms incorrectly when we are naming types of societies. For example, the United States is not a Democracy. We are a Representative Republic. The difference is this: "Democracy" is mob rule. If everyone votes to go rob the nearest bank, so be it. In fact, even if a simple majority votes to go rob the bank... you get the picture. We use the 'Democratic Process,' and we have democratic elections, and we do try to spread "democracy" so it's easy to confuse things.

But in a "Representative Republic," we use the process of democracy, that is, people are elected by open and free elections in which the majority wins, but the people we elect (our representatives) are there to represent us and THEY are supposed to do all the law-making, taxing, and other government functions, in line with the wishes of the people who put them into office. Our nation's founding Fathers assumed that these representatives would use the Bible, God, and the rule of decency as guides in running the nation, but of course,if they did not, we could simply not reelect them next time around. Yeah. How's that working were YOU live?

"Communism" actually only means that people hold things in common. In it's purest form, it is the first century church - Acts 2:44ff says, " 42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need."

The society they formed was interdependent. But they were driven by God, motivated by love, so they all worked hard at what they did, and then they gave it away to those who had need. I have to believe that they worked hard and gave willingly to the common good because they understood that they were interdependent and they could look around and see others doing the same.

But - in many modern-day communist countries, there is a problem. Freeloaders. It is inevitable that some will come to the conclusion that they don't need to work hard, for two reasons: 1. whatever they make will be given away to others, and 2. whatever they need will be provided by others. The key to this problem is a basic human characteristic: it is selfishness. If all you care about is what YOU get, communism breaks down fast. There is no motivation to keep working as hard as you can all the time for the common good, especially if you are the only one around you who is working hard.

So a ruler, king, leader, dictator, or oligarchy rises up and begins to control things. They SAY that they are just there to see to it that everyone works hard for the common good, and they claim to only want to see to it that a fair distribution of goods and services keeps everyone working hard and everyone fed. But in History, we see that Communist Countries have all ended up being run by an Oligarchy (one group of people who get rich while the working class gets poor) or by a dictator who comes to power and never leaves, generally bankrupting the country as his greed drives him to take more and more from the country and give less and less.

America - wake up. You have given in to a dictator, and it is wrecking us. In our case, the dictator is greed, or 'self.'

If God was the one who ruled our lives, we would work hard to honor Him. We would give to the poor to honor Him. We would share our much to honor HIM. We would be living in a state of pure communism: we would hold all things in common and none would be lazy NOR would any suffer need. I vote for a "benevolent dictator." One who is above corruption, beyond selfishness, and immune to greed.

But things might have to change. Things we have grown very used to having. For example, we might also not all have private homes. Instead, we might very well have the rooms of our houses filled with people who need a home. We might have to carpool, share the computer, own fewer things of our own. And we might very well hand money back and forth based on need rather than on work performed. Yes, the Bible teaches that a workman is worthy of his hire (pay,) but there are times when outside forces conspire and a hard-working person finds themselves in need.

And if there were competition among the brothers, it might be to see who can help people the most rather than who can collect the most toys our build and posses (privately) the best house. There are people in our country who were very much driven by the desire to employ an entire town which was out of work, and years later we have some huge corporation. This is one of the great strengths of Capitalism: you are motivated to work hard because you get a direct benefit from it. Get a good education, land a good job, and you get to start enjoying good things. But if God is truly our God, then we recognize that all good things come from Him, and as we work hard to gather good things around us, we would also work hard to see to it that our brothers and sisters get to enjoy those good things too, and in a capitalistic society that can and often does lead to a large income. Hospitality, generosity, giving, sharing, graciousness - these are all Godly traits which can and should be exhibited by Christians. Wealthy Christians as well as poor ones.

OK - enough. I know that our country isn't going to go there. Not in a hurry, anyway. I make my living selling luxury items to people with money to burn, and I am not ready to give it up just yet. But in the midst of it all, the church can rise up. Help one another. Be there for each other. And we can begin to learn to live in common - sharing selflessly - with one another.

He knows us better than we think

Matthew 22:15 Then the Pharisees went out and laid plans to trap him in his words. 16 They sent their disciples to him along with the Herodians. “Teacher,” they said, “we know that you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You aren’t swayed by others, because you pay no attention to who they are. 17 Tell us then, what is your opinion? Is it right to pay the imperial tax to Caesar or not?”

18 But Jesus, knowing their evil intent, said, “You hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me? 19 Show me the coin used for paying the tax.” They brought him a denarius, 20 and he asked them, “Whose image is this? And whose inscription?”

21 “Caesar’s,” they replied.

Then he said to them, “So give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”

22 When they heard this, they were amazed. So they left him and went away."

So there!

A promise

Romans 8:34 Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?

I don't know if there is much I could add to that! But I will say this: this life may not be able to separate us from the love of Christ, but it CAN make it tough to keep our focus.

Be strong my friends - in Him.

Father God

Romans 8:15 (New International Version, ©2011)

15 The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship.[a] And by him we cry, “Abba,[b] Father.”

God as our Father - not everyone has a good picture of a loving daddy, so sometimes it is tough to think of God as our Father.

I had a good relationship with my Father. He's gone now, and I miss him, but I think back on all of the things he tried to do to make my growing up good. Scouts, camping, boating, teacher conferences, working side by side (I learned to do just about all of the construction trades by working on remodeling houses with him) and one very interesting thing - being gentle.

It took a lot to get my dad upset. He had to put up with my mom, who was a difficult person to all people around her. And Dad not only did it pretty well, but he actually Loved her! I can remember the day he was laying in a hospital bed, the doctor had told us that Dad was at the end. I was so very sorry all at once for the things I had never done with him, the things I had never said to him. I tried to sit there and pour it out, but in two words he helped me to understand that it was OK -

"I know." Combined with the loving look in his eyes, it was all I needed to hear.

He knew that I loved him, he knew that I would miss him, and he knew that this was just part of life - a painful part, but part of life nonetheless.

But Dad would not 'let go' until I promised him that I would take care of Mom. She was completely dependent upon Dad, the victim of a stroke and then Senility. As soon as I assured -held his hand and promised - him that Mom would be OK for the rest of her life, he relaxed, and only said two more words until he left us a few days later. Those two words?

"Precious Jesus." He said them over and over, and it dawned on me later that he wasn't calling out to Jesus, he wasn't begging, he wasn't searching - he was seeing. And he was being an example.