The Fair

        One of the highlights in my childhood years was the La Porte county fair.  It seemed to be the pivotal point of the year.  You worked to get to the fair and then after it was over, you started again just waiting for next year.  There were exhibitions for food and the animals.  These seemed to be the biggest attractions.  Then there was the horse pull where teams of horses would see which one could pull the biggest load.  This later was replaced with the tractor pull which did the same thing.  For me, the biggest attraction was the midway with all of the rides and strange sights.  Everyone in the county seemed to want to go to the county fair at least once during the time that it was open.  If anyone had an opportunity to go to the fair, they went and no one turned it down.  Today, I can say that there have been just a handful of people who don't want to go to heaven.  Everyone else wants to go there because of all of the changes it will bring about.  Revelation 21:4 says, "And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away."  The handful that doesn't want to go to heaven is made up of those people who don't believe that there is a God and that there is a place like heaven.  So, they just don't believe it in the first place.  They don't think that heaven exists or that there is any hell.  They have various excuses, none of which will hold water in the end.  The proof is going to come 10 seconds after a person passes from this life.  That will be one time when you cannot reverse the time and do it over.  You won't be able to do it again and make sure you do it right.  You will have to accept the decision that you made before you "passed away."  When you are typing a paper, you can simply backspace when you make a mistake.  You can type it again and get it right.  There is, however, no backspace key in life and you won't be able to go back even 11 seconds.  You are going to have to trust God now and not wait to see if it is true after all.  You are going to have to take His Word right now, today, and not wait for a more opportune time or when you might think you will receive more information.  You may work all year for the annual horse show, or the scout jamboree or for the county fair, but this is far more important.  How will you decide?  Will you take God's offer for salvation or are you going to wait for proof from the "other side" before you make a decision?  Praise God today that He has given us a clear route to make it to heaven.  "Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me."

Memorial

      Most of our lives are filled with memories and a lot of things that we like to remember over the years.  This time of year in Indiana was when our Iris plants would be in full bloom.  We had a lot of them and so Mom would begin cutting them on Memorial Day and wrapping them in groups with old newspapers.  We then loaded them into the car and headed out to a number of the cemeteries in La Porte County.  We would then locate the grave of a loved one and leave a bouquet of Iris until the car was empty.  Each year was the same routine.  There are perhaps a lot of things that we like to remember and one of them is certainly God.      Exodus 3:14-15 says, “And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.  And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations.”   It is interesting to note that God introduced Himself to Moses and gave Moses His name.  This name, as given here in Exodus, is going to reappear in the Gospel of John shen the Lord Jesus Christ uses the same expression in what many refer to as the seven “I AM’s” of John. We might say, “Well, who would forget God?”  All we need to do is to look around us in our culture today and the answer is plain.  We, as a people and as a nation have forgotten God and made a mockery out of all that is spiritual.  The laws and precepts of God have been disregarded and altered until that which was originally classified as sin now appears to be legal and accepted in the norms of society.  It has become a mockery to God and the words of Second Timothy 3:1-5 echo around the world.  God is certainly able to change things but we can see judgment coming.  We need to ask ourselves if we have forgotten to remember God in our daily lives.  It is a time of remembering and God should be at the forefront of our “memorials.”  Praise God today for all that He is doing in all of our lives.

Umbrellas

          Can you dodge rain drops?  I seemed to have tried it at times but still arrived spotted with rain.  When the rain starts to fall, one of the first things you reach for is that umbrella that is in the back of the car or under the seat. Umbrellas are marvelous things. They keep you dry, at least your head, while the rain falls. We are always eager to run to the nearest protection when storms come. Tents and awnings become temporary places of protection while the storms rage around us. God has not left us out in the storms of life without protection. Psalm 91:2-4 says, " I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust. Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence. He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler." We are all in a spiritual warfare and we need to take heed of the protection that God has provided. In this Psalm, the writer states that God's protection is similar to that of a mother hen who protects her young chicks under her wings. This is always a marvelous thing to behold. It doesn't matter if it is a storm, an animal bent on capturing a chick or an eagle in the sky. When she sees the danger she calls her chicks and they come running, squirming to get underneath those wings that enfold the whole group of them. Then she squats down and keeps them protected. The writer here states that our protection is like that of the mother hen. We are under God's wings. The storms of life might include both physical and spiritual battles that we are going through. When you face failing health, physical injury or even spiritual battles, God is always there and He has provided us that "umbrella" of protection. Now, some people have a tendency to step out from under the umbrella and try to do it on their own. The analogy would be the same if a person decided to get out from under his umbrella during a storm. Will they get wet? Of course they will. Will a person suffer the consequences if they get out from under God's umbrella? The answer is still, "yes." So, by staying close to God and His Word and by keeping in touch with Him through prayer, you can be assured that you are under His umbrella of protection. Praise God today for His protection and for His "wings" of comfort.

Rewards

     My rewards during my high school years consisted more of music medals than anything else.  I recall mentioning that I had run on the high school track team when I was a teenager.  I did get a number of ribbons during that time.  I had a couple of blue ones, a couple of red ones and a lot of white ones.  The third place ribbon was white and I seemed to have more of those than any other color especially at the county tournament.  The big school had a lot of runners and one of them even lapped me on the half mile run.  Well, regardless of the color, they were my trophies and went along with my high school sweater with the big "R" on it for "Rolling Prairie."  People like to receive rewards for those things that they have done and especially where some accomplishments have been made.  The concept came from the Olympic games.  We often see them in current times as podiums set at a different level.  The first place is higher than the second place and the second place is higher than the third place.  Paul used the example of these awards when he spoke of the "Bema" seat judgment.   Second Corinthians 10:5 reminds us, "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad."   These are rewards where we receive certain items for work done here on earth.  Paul used the example of the games to show that these were rewards for the winners.  When I was on the track team, the rewards were good and certainly a goal for me to win the race.  That wasn't the only thing however.  I just flat wanted to win.  We all probably like to win in whatever area of our lives.  There is a catch to these rewards that are mentioned in Second Corinthians.  It all depends on the attitude you had when you did the work.  We know that we can do things either for our own selves or for Christ.  There is no middle ground or a half and half deal.  It's all or nothing.  Examples abound where people do things for their own glory.  Oh, they may say that it is for God's glory, but that doesn't make it so.  For some, it depends on who they are trying to impress.  Are you trying to impress your neighbor, or your son or daughter, or your father or mother, or your boss?  I am reminded of another verse of Scripture which says, "And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him." (Colossians 3:17)  You can do the same work and one will have credit from the Lord as gold and silver while the other, who has done the same work, will have his work regarded as no more than wood, hay and stubble.  What made the difference?  The difference was for Whom the work was done.  Praise God today for His working in your life.

Just a Peep

       I remember as a young boy, playing “spy.” You would try to gather information from them without their knowing it. I remember seeing instructions for making a periscope out of a slender tube or box and two mirrors. By putting the mirrors at 45% angles facing each other and about a foot apart, you could make a periscope that would help you see around corners and over fences. There were also “knots” in the boards of the barn that would provide “peepholes” from which we could observe others that were on their way to the barn or traveling down the road. These “peepholes” were good for us to get a glimpse of something, but certainly not the whole picture. I was thinking the other day that the Bible is a “peephole” into heaven. It gives us a glimpse of what lies ahead. Revelation 4:1 says, “After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter.” The Apostle John was summoned to heaven to get a glimpse of things to come. Revelation 4 and 5 are wonderful chapters that give us a mere peek into heaven itself and indeed, into the very throne of God. Beginning in Revelation 4:4, John states almost 30 times that he saw something wonderful in heaven. These are but 30 peeks into the future that God has for those who believe in Him. In fact, the whole book of Revelation is but a peek into heaven. God has given us a glimpse of things to come and when we read of the wonders of heaven, we are even more challenged to be there and to invite others. It is also amazing that God has given us clear and understandable instructions on how to get to heaven. Praise God today that He had planned such a wonderful place for His children.

The Name

  I have mentioned how I was searching for a Christian during the past Easter season only finding that they were few and far between, at least in the hospital in which I was a patient.  Different ethnic groups had different names, mostly derogatory and given by other ethnic groups.  Like a caricature it would be due to some specific trait that would mark them as being different from other groups of people.  Early Christians were not a popular group of people and so it was a little more difficult to detect who was a Christian and who was not.  A tradition states that they sometimes drew half of a fish and if the other person was a believer, they would complete the picture either on the ground or even in the dust, making the outline of a whole fish.  Acts 11:26 says, “And when he had found him, he brought him unto Antioch. And it came to pass, that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church, and taught many people. And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch.”  The tradition states that the Greek word for fish forms an acronym which stands for Jesus Christ, God’s Son, Savior.  The fish symbol has become a popular item in some book stores for display on cars, books, walls in the home or business, denoting the occupants as believers.  I still recall the statement of a nurse, in the dark as she drew my blood, when I asked her if she was a Christian.  Her reply, “No.  I don’t know what I am.”  Sad to say, this seems to be the state of many people in the world today.  They are not believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, and actually have no real belief of their own to claim.  They are true in stating that they don’t know what they are.  Before the time of Constantine, you could be killed for being a Christian and the time may be returning sooner than we think to our own culture.  We may find ourselves returning to drawing fish in the sand or on the dust of a table top to indicate our faith to someone else.  To do so, will indicate that you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as God’s Son and your Savior.  Those days may well be approaching but in the meantime, are you seeking out those that believe?  Are you asking others about their faith?  I am finding that the older I get, the more freely I ask questions of others.   “Where are you from?”  “Do you go to church?”  “ Are you a believer?”  We often miss out on wonderful opportunities to meet people and even to find out that some are believers in the Lord Jesus Christ.  Praise God today that He sent His Son to die for our sins.  Are we willing to speak out for Him?

Possible or Impossible.

    We sometimes spend a lot of time, money and effort to save us time, money and effort in the future.  One of these items was the construction of the Panama Canal.    The Canal would save ship captains days and months by making a passage through Panama that would connect the Pacific and the Atlantic Oceans.  You would no longer have to travel around the continent of South America and especially the dreaded Straits of Magellan.  We may come to a point and ask ourselves just how much time, money and effort are we willing to spend on a mammoth project?  In the early 1980’s a Spanish newspaper ran an article about Israel’s desire to construct a canal from the Mediterranean Sea to the Dead Sea.  It will supply the necessary fresh water to capitalize on some of the riches of the Dead Sea.  The Judean area however has some extremely rugged terrain that makes it almost impossible.    Well, as we know, with God all things are possible.   Zechariah 14:4 says, “And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south.”   You can take a ruler and place it on Jerusalem, running East to West,  and then notice the two ends are on the Mediterranean Sea and the Northern tip of the Dead Sea and it flows right through the Mount of Olives.  Just as in every case, God has it all planned out and this little passage tells us how it is going to come to pass.  When it comes to time, money and effort, we couldn’t come up with enough of either one to make it work but God is going to do it in an instant as soon as the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ touch the mount.  How does that compare to the things that are going on in your life today?  Man made canals don’t take place overnight.  They often require months and perhaps years to complete.  In the above passage, all it requires is the touching of a foot, the foot of the Savior, to cause the shift in a huge land mass to open a canal completely across the country of Israel even through the Judean hills and valleys.  Maybe you are a tad perplexed today about some situations in your life that seem to be almost impossible to correct.  God knows all about it.  Maybe you can’t figure out how you are going to ever get back to good health.  God knows all about it.  Maybe there are broken relationships in your life that you don’t know how to correct.  God knows all about it.  God has all things worked out and nothing is beyond Him.  Praise Him for the answer to all of life’s questions.

Controlling the Tongue

 

             Some people love confrontation.  Others do not.  I am the type of person that doesn't really like it.  Sometimes, I found myself in a place of opposition so that I would want to say something with a more opposing view than other members of the group.  It usually ended up with people trying to outwit one another and to see who could come up with the best argument and the last word on any given matter.  At times, knowing what was likely to happen, I would write on the top of my agenda notes, "Keep your mouth shut!"  Sometimes, I would even come up with my own Spanish phrase, "Cierra la boca."  It worked for me.  But, I think the Psalmist had a better idea.   Psalm 17:3 says, "Thou hast proved mine heart; thou hast visited me in the night; thou hast tried me, and shalt find nothing; I am purposed that my mouth shall not transgress."   You notice that words can't be taken back.  Once you say something, it is out there for all eternity and there is nothing that you can do to retrieve what you said.  It is gone.  This same verse in another translation reads, "You have scrutinized my inner motives; you have examined me during the night.  You have carefully evaluated me, but you find no sin.  I am determined I will say nothing sinful."  The word "purposed" in the KJV is the one I want to zero in on today.  Sometimes, it is necessary to purpose to do something or as in this case, not to do something.  If a person has no purpose, then, they just seem to "react" to what takes place around them.  They say what they think regardless of who they hurt.  After all, they assume that is their right.  The Psalmist however, wishes to not sin or to not say anything sinful.  Those sinful words are the worst ones.  They hurt people, they give wrong information, they puff up the speaker and worst of all, they can't be taken back.  Maybe you have tried to take back words that you have spoken.  It usually begins with the phrase, "Oh, I was only joking."  You already know that is not true.  It is just one more sin that has been added to the speaker's already growing list.  It would be far better for us to get up in the morning and say as did the writer of the Psalms, "...I am purposed that my mouth shall not transgress."  Praise God today that He has the power to control your tongue.

Free Gifts

  I have had a few things in my life that I received as a result of doing something.  In other words, I earned what I was about to receive.  It may have been a paycheck or a prize.  It was just something that I got as a result of accomplishing something for someone else.  I fulfilled a goal of some sort in order to receive.  On the flip side, there have been very few things that I have received as a result of doing absolutely nothing.  Why even the list of the fictitious Santa Clause depended upon who was naughty or nice.  I recall going down to a university to apply for a scholarship.  I was to play the bassoon for them and then they would say whether I got a scholarship or not and there were only eight of them to give.  Well, I got one of them so they must have approved of what they heard.One of the most sought after things in life however, is often ignored.  It is the gift of salvation.  Ephesians 2:8-10 says, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:  Not of works, lest any man should boast.  For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.”  It is amazing to note how many of the world’s religions are based upon works of one sort or another.  It may be the number of flowers you sell or the number of prayers you pray or the number of converts you make or the number  of kind deeds that you perform.  Whatever it is, the end result is that it is a work of some sort or another.  You see, my efforts cannot add anything to what God has so adequately done in the first place.  God has supplied the perfect salvation and there is nothing that I can do to improve on what He has already done.  So, He made it a completely free gift.  Notice that it is what is said in the passage.  It is the gift of God and not of works.  Not one work can make it any better than it already is.  It is perfect in every detail.  I can’t play the bassoon or pray a number of prayers or live the good life.  It is a free gift and like all gifts, all I need to do is to receive it in the simplicity  in which it is given.  There is, however, an interesting side note which we find in the third verse in today’s passage.  We do “good works” not for our salvation, but because of our salvation, so works are there, present in every life of every believer because of what God has already done in our lives in this amazing gift of salvation.  So, praise God today for this amazing gift that you could not earn and just rejoice in it.

Good News

       I may have tried to proclaim my innocence a number of times in my life when in reality, I was guilty of the charges that had been made.  Most of my infractions were minor and did not carry a lot of punishment, but there were those things of which I was guilty as charged.  One of my worst times was in the area of disobedience and going along with the crowd thus ending up being guilty in the end.  The sad thing about some of those situations was that I knew what was being done was wrong, but it was easy to go along with the majority of the group at the time.  One such situation ended up with a poor review by my superior.  It could have been worse.  Romans 8:1 says, “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”  What a joy it is to come to a given situation and hear the above words.  The Book of Romans can be divided up into several sections, with many different convenient outlines.  One that I have used contains all words beginning with the letter. “S.”    Salutation, Sin, Salvation, Sanctification, Service, Sovereignty and a conclusion, or as I called it, “So long.”  Romans 8:1 occurs in the “Sanctification” section.  The words seem to jump off the page as you have just come through  several chapters of how bad things look and then to hear the words, “There is therefore, now, no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus….”  When you get right down to thinking about it, you deserve all the punishment that God could give you but instead, you find out that there is no condemnation.  Now that is good news.  We live in a world that is scarce when it comes to good news.  There are but a few instances of good news around these days.  News programs scour the area to try to find at least one encouraging story about good news whether it be a story about a young person or a person who does something in a humanitarian effort to better things around him.  I know of many families who have refrained from watching the evening news due to the fact that it is often depressing to look at.  The first several chapters of Romans could be very depressing if it were not for the words of Romans 8:1.  “...No condemnation…”  Of course, you did notice the phrase that follows, “to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit..”  We do this by knowing what it says in the Word of God.  We do this by following the directions that have been already given to us.  While the world may be filled with depressing news, every believer can rejoice with the words of Romans 8:1.  Praise God today for His Salvation.

Comparisons

          It is true that there are many things in this life that can be compared. Other things, however, can't. We sometimes use the phrase, "It is like comparing apples to oranges." That simply means that the two items to be compared are so different that you wouldn't be able to draw any real conclusions if you did compare them. The Apostle Paul was comparing two things in the following verse. Romans 8:18 says, "For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us." The two things being compared in this verse are the sufferings of this life and the glory that is coming later on. One of them far outweighs the other. Paul indicates that our present sufferings are really insignificant when compared to the glory that is going to come later. That may seem hard to believe for some who are really having a bad day. You may have found yourself on such a day, perhaps even today. While we are in the midst of suffering, they seem to be overpowering and squashing us down to the point that we feel as if we will never get up to get a breath. Sufferings are never pleasant. This is why this verse seems to be such a comfort. It speaks of sufferings, yes, but it contrasts them with the glory that is to follow. From all indications, the glory is going to far surpass all of our sufferings. The glory is going to be so great that your sufferings will be forgotten in an instant. We often give gifts to our family members during their birthdays. We usually give something big and then a number of very small things. We save the big gift for last, sometimes even hiding it so the person will not know it is coming. Once, however, it is received, the joy of that particular gift far outweighs the other gifts. New socks are forgotten as a new bicycle appears. In this sense, sufferings are not worthy to be counted in comparison to glory. The Book of Revelation gives us a glimpse of glory. It is a glimpse that offers us just a peak at what is to come. We can observe some of the sights and sounds of heaven. We get a quick picture of the Holy City. As we have seen all of these pictures from the future, we realize that the glory to come is going to be great. It is going to be far greater than we ever imagined. So, what does that do for us in the here and now? It says, "Hang in there. Your sufferings are nothing compared to the rewards that are coming. Be patient and endure the warfare, the pain and the suffering, the illness and the grief. Peter wrote much about this in his first epistle. In fact, you could call his epistle, "Suffering leads to Glory." Praise God today for what He has in store for you.

Getting Lost

      I am inclined to get lost easily whether it be a woods or a populated city area.  It makes little difference.  I just get turned around a couple of times and I could easily be lost. While in the Navy, we docked at a city in Southern Chile, named Punta Arenas.  It was at the foot of the Andes Mountains and when the wind starts to blow, almost everything is swept into the sea.  The captain of  our ship advised us to be close to the ship at all times and should a breeze start, make your way to the ship immediately.   Knowing my propensity for becoming turned around, I ventured off of the main dock but kept the ship in sight at all times.  I didn’t see much of Puntas Arenas that day.  God gives us some good directions in reference to knowing which way to go in life.  Proverbs 3:5-6 says, “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.”  This passage is one of those wall Plaque verses that you can purchase in many bookstores.  It is sound advice.  There are three things that need to be done in order to keep on the right path.  We are to Trust in the LORD with all of our heart.  We are to not follow our own own inclinations and we are to acknowledge the LORD in all of our ways.  Wow!  It sounds like a simple formula for never getting lost even in our spiritual lives.  Okay, just take the first one and endeavor to trust the LORD with all of our hearts.  I dare say that many of us may have failed in this one even since we got up this morning.  It is easy to say that I trust the LORD with all of my heart but then when the first problem comes, we find ourselves wondering what we shall do.  Soon, anxiety and fear creep in and we begin to devise plans to make things happen ourselves.  Thus, we find ourselves following our own path instead of the LORD’s path.  That is when our “own understanding” comes into play.  Perhaps we heard of some advice from another person or we read a “self help” book that describes how to be rich and famous.  Our own plans will get us lost in a maze for sure.  When we do follow the LORD’s direction, we find that we will arrive where God intended us to be and in complete safety.  What do we say then?  That is where we need to give God the credit and not ourselves.  It is acknowledging that God did it.  The world may not like hearing it so often when God is given credit for something publicly.  If God helped you, then tell the world that He did it and not yourself or some worldly person.  Praise God today for His working in all of our lives each and every day.

Music and the Son

 May 14, 2021

Greetings to you all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,

   People are attracted to various genres of music.  A lot of people like country music, folk music, rap and many other kinds.  I was attracted to classical music almost from the earliest time I can recall music of any kind.  My Mother played polkas on an old pump organ but that still wasn’t the type of music that I liked.  I could also say that religious music held a special place in my heart.  I would like the works that told of the life of some prophet such as Elijah and was especially drawn to many of the works that depicted great events in the Bible.  It was easy for me to be drawn to the church with the biggest organ, the best choir and the best music.  At that time in my life, it felt “religious.”  One day, my friends who taught a few doors down from my studio, opened my door and said two verses from the Bible. I have added the following verse in this passage.  First John 5:11-13 says, “And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.  He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.”   He quoted verses 11 and 12, shut the door, and left with no explanation as to why he did that.  Those two verses blew away all of my music, my tradition, my artwork, my stained glass windows, my robes and everything else that was “ecclesiastical” in my own little religious world.  God was knocking at my heart and prying away all of the items of the world that seemed to be religious but were just added weights.  Only one thing was important and John made it clear in these verses.  If you have the Son, you have life.  If you don’t have the Son, you don’t have life.  At that time, I didn’t have the Son.  All I had was frills and material things that looked religious, sounded religious, everyone else was doing it, sort of trappings.  I find that in this life there are many people holding onto things that appear to be religious but are not.  It is something that they have put together to make their own religion.  The only problem is that they don’t have the Son and therefore don’t have the Life for which they long.  How many people have you heard that get to the end of life after acquiring riches, fame and power and still find that their life is lacking something and that Something if the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ.  There is no substitute for the Son so if you are looking for eternal life, then, look no further than the Son of God.  Music, art, tradition, robes, liturgical calendars and such will not replace the SON.  Life can only be found in Him.  I think that John the Apostle made it pretty simple in this passage and notice the following verse, “...that ye may “KNOW…”  Praise God today for sending His Son to provide salvation.

Finished

 Greetings to you all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,

     Finishing a project has not always been one of my “forte’s” so to speak.  I could take you to a visual picture of uncompleted model airplanes, battle ships and half painted models as well as other items that were not finished, at least the way they should have been in the first place.  I dabbled in oil painting for a period in my life which produced a number of paintings, some of which were finally placed outside of a dumpster between Christiansburg, VA and Pilot, VA as we prepared to go to Spain.  A few of them survived but a close scrutiny of the pictures might reveal when I got tired of them and wished them to be finished.  When you are the artist, you get the job of determining when it is finished and when it is not done yet.  Some ideas are determined to be “half baked” which could be another example of a work that was not done to begin with, or at least the thought of doing a work.   Philippians 1:6 says, “Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:”  This has long been one of my favorite passages as it shows that God is just the opposite when it comes to finishing a project.  The prime example here is we ourselves.  There are however, many other exampled in our surrounding that depict how God has completed that which He began in the first place such as the Bombardier Beetle, the iris flower, Pleiades, the arrangement of the solar system and the distance to the sun, the chemical makeup of “water, old H2O and the blood system in our own bodies.  The list is endless as we look around us and see God’s projects, all of them finished and completed even when we don't understand each and every part of them.  In the end, we can rest assured in what God has planned for us and the rest of our lives.  Oh, we don’t see all of it yet as we are on the wrong side of the tapestry.  God, however, is on the right side and knows the picture even as it unfolds before His eyes.  The pain, the grief, the joy, the surprise and many other things all make up the excitement of our lives which are still under construction.  So, what do you have to fear?  What anxieties keep you from good sleep at night?  Giving it all to the Lord as He works His miracles in our lives should be the comfort that we need.  I know, it is what I need.  God is working the work in my life and in your lives  that make us who we are and what we will become.  Praise God today for His working in your life and in all of our lives.  As my friends once said, “God is working a 7.7 billion piece puzzle every second.”

Is God Here?

 Greetings to you all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,

       Some have said, “What happened?”  Others said, “Are you all right?”  I guess it was obvious that something took place that changed the course of my life over the past two months.  It all began on a Saturday afternoon with some chills, a nap and then sliding out of bed and landing on the floor.  That episode was going to repeat itself at 2:15 in the morning which would eventually result in the men in the red truck coming and taking me to the Emergency Room.  I didn’t know what was going on except that I was weak and stuck on a hospital bed in the ER for the next day and a half.  The VA was full and transferring patients to this hospital so couldn’t go over there.  One thing led to another and I learned new terms such as “sepsis.”  It meant that things were going on in my bloodstream as an infection raged through my body.  Extreme cellulitis in the left leg seemed to be the culprit and antibiotics were being injected.  I was at the mercy of another five teams of medical people from surgical, medical, vascular, infectious disease and podiatry trying to fix what was broken.

Psalm 139:13-16 says, “ For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother's womb.  I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.  My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.  Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.”  God’s presence was still there even in this hospital as I spent Resurrection Day 

On a hospital bed.  I recall the day when I thought it was Easter, but I was a day early.  I asked a nurse taking blood, “Are you a Christian?”  I was surprised when she said, “NO.  I don’t know what I am.”  I kept repeating the phrase, “He is risen.”  No one was responding with “He is risen indeed.”   For a while I thought I was in a pagan world until finally one replied with a Christian response.  Finally, someone was a believer.  God was still there.  He was there long before that day and even before the Saturday of the chills.  He was there when I was formed.  God was there at my birth and God has been there in every aspect of my life.  Psalm 139 dives into the riches of life and how it is formed in the beginning stages.  When we realize that God was present even when we were conceived, it should give us a glimmer of hope in a world that is falling into oblivion.  We probably have all experienced those days in the hospital when things were crumbling around us and perhaps we have wondered if God was there with us.  We can praise God today for His presence in all of our lives even from the days of conception.