The Kid Watch

 The Kid Watch

 The other day as I was driving, I saw a very familiar sight. It was a neighborhood ice cream truck. It was something I’ve seen hundreds of times and had eaten my share of its delightful treats. On the back of the truck was this sign for following motorists: WATCH OF KIDS. Excellent advice for sure since a child was likely to dart out of a house to buy a treat and not think about watching for a car. This same is true about the same child now totally absorbed in eating, or even devouring that delicious melting treat. Either way, that sign on the back of that ice cream truck told me it was my responsibility to make sure those kids came and went safely.

 Children play a large part throughout the bible. David was a young teenager when he slew the giant, Goliath. Then there are the three children thrown into the fiery furnace. Of course, Moses was a small baby when he was found and adopted into that royal Egyptian family. His education and training was God’s way of preparing him to lead the Israelites out of Egypt and to the Promised Land. Abraham followed God’s orders and prepared t sacrifice his son. By following God’s orders, he began the journey to found a nation when God rewarded his faithfulness and provided a sheep to be slain and offered up in Isaac’s place. In the New Testament, Jesus told his followers to let the little children come to him, when they would have kept them away. There is also his admonition that unless we are as little children, we will not get to enter Heaven.

 How can you, and me, be as little children? How about not taking our faith, our beliefs, for granted. They are gifts freely given to us by God. It is fair to question what we don’t know or understand, but once we have our answer, then act on it as a child would.

 Do you look at your faith full of questions or even debate? There are many variations of Christianity and beliefs in God. Some even go far as to say if you don’t follow that particular version, you won’t go to heaven. It isn’t up to that version and its followers to determine that. That smacks of Pride, one of the deadly sins. God decides who gets to share his eternity.

 So it is up to you to be a child of God, regardless of the number of birthdays you have stacked up behind you.

 Will you be a child of God? It is his gift and wish. It is up to you to accept it.

The Lamp In The Darkness

 

Matthew 5:15 “Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel” (KJV)

‘It is better to light one candle than to curse the darkness (The Christophers)

 Sometimes a piece of scripture sticks in my head for some reason.  It’s usually something that is common, since I am hardly a biblical scholar.  An example of that is the quote above from Matthew’s gospel.  More modern translations use “bowl” or “basket” instead of bushel.  For reference, a bushel is a basket about 18 inches diameter and 12 inches deep and holds about  56 pounds of grain, about eight gallons.  If you put it over a lamp, it will completely cover it and no light will be seen.

 In 1952, there was a TV program called “Christopher Closeup”.  The Christophers are a Catholic organization that put on a weekly program that discussed Christianity.  Their motto is “It is better to light one candle than to curse the darkness.”  While that sounds biblical, it is usually describer as coming from a Chinese proverb.  I was curious about this organization and looked it up.  It was founded in 1945 by Father James Keller who was concerned that many people saw the world’s problems, complained about them, and felt powerless to make a difference.  His philosophy was simple:

·       Don’t focus only on what is wrong.

·       Do something constructive, even if it seems small

·       One person can influence many others

·       The media can be used for good as well as for bad or harmful

I remember watching it many times growing up.  It went off of the air in 2012 after 60 years!

 The news media has reported a surge in the number of people going to or returning to the church and professing their Christianity.  Clearly, there are many lamps of faith being lit.  And, like the quote above from Matthew’s gospel, they are doing so in various visible ways.

 How about you?  What are you doing in your own life to be an example of your faith in such a way that others may be attracted to you or are curious enough to seek out a person such as a priest, minister, or lay leader, or maybe you?  Perhaps they attend a service at some church and that leads them to God and his son.

 In my retail job, I am seeing more and more people who are very visibly wearing a cross necklace.  Some of these crosses are plain and some are ornate.  These people are stating their faith to everyone who sees them.  Unfortunately, there are also some people who hide any evidence of their beliefs.  They say that their faith is private and won’t do anything to show it.

 The first group has taken the basket off of their lamps.  Light attracts and their lamp is their declaration of faith.  The second group keeps their lamp hidden or even unlit.  I am sure they meet people who are asking or wondering about God and Jesus Christ and they will be left  searching.  God will eventually lead them to someone who is part of the first group.

 Which group do you belong to?  Do you meet people with your lamp shining brightly or are you one whose lamp is dark and well hidden?  Going back to the Christopher’s motto, it may be that your candle will light the way of someone’s wish to know God. 

 Will you light it and keep it lit?  God is depending on you to help him bring more people to him.  How can you refuse?

The Advantage

 We all have an idea what advantage means. One definition says it is a beneficial factor or combination of factors, superiority of means. A person who is better trained, better equipped, has an advantage over another contestant or foe. There is an old saying, “Don’t take a knife to a gunfight.” The person with the gun has the advantage. But that is no guarantee. Someone who is fast and accurate with the knife has a good chance of winning in a face-to-face contest. 

We are seeing multiple examples of this with boys who claim to be girls. Rather than compete against other boys, they compete against girls. Given the basic physical differences to their advantage, the boys win most of the time. An obvious conclusion is they know they can’t be successful against other boys, so they claim to be girls as their “gender identity” and use this to win where in real life they could not be successful against boys. Unfortunately, there are some states that sanction this. 

Okay, I’ll get down off of my soapbox. 

When God created the angels, some remained loyal and others rebelled. This latter group was cast out of heaven into hell. We refer to them by different names: Devil, Satan, The Great Pretender. While God is superior in all ways, Satan has a certain power and is very sneaky. He has learned how to use this in order to tempt us and recruit us to follow him into his hell rather than go to heaven and spend eternity with God. 

Satan has his wiles, his tricks, his deceptions. Remember Satan’s temptations of Jesus. Jesus, of course, rejected all of them. But it shows just how far Satan is willing to go in his temptations. He will look for your weaknesses, your desires, and use them to tempt you into sin and, maybe, ultimately, into hell. 

Do you have a desire for more money? Then it is no big deal to take a little here, a little there. Say you are working in retail. Just short the till some. “The company can afford it” and “they did not give me that raise that I deserve.” Maybe you’ll get away with it, maybe you'll get fired. Satan doesn’t care. He just won. Or, perhaps you have a weakness of alcohol or drugs or both. There are some people whose DNA makes them more susceptible to these addictions. Satan makes it easy to obtain them. Others become addicts over time and use. He doesn’t care that it destroys families, marriages, jobs. Satan has won. 

And then there is sex. Some people are predators. Children, pornography, and crimes like rape. Thankfully, these are not so common as other forms. Maybe Satan wants you to build up a record. How many times can you score and with how many partners? Or, say you just flirt at work. Satan is going to push you to go further and further until it ends up in bed with someone not your spouse. He will put the thought in your mind that your spouse isn’t as exciting as in years past, You have needs that aren’t being answered, you’re bored, it isn’t great anymore, so you have the right to take care of them extramaritally. Wrong! Broken marriages, loss of trust, divorce, alienation from your children. Satan has won, and he doesn’t care about your problems. 

Satan had the advantage over you in that he knows how to tempt you. There are many other ways and weaknesses and he knows the best ways to tempt you. He has the advantage. 

BUT! You can have the advantage over Satan, you can counter his every strategy. You have a partner, a teammate, one who knows everything Satan knows, and he has the ways to beat Satan. He is God. If you can’t win or are being tempted to your limits, it is time to call on God to add his strengths to yours and guide you in the right direction, and coach you on how to resist Satan and his ways. Satan will never give up, never quit trying to win to recruit you into hell. However, God always bests him. You and God, unbeatable. With your faith and following his coaching, it has a different outcome. You and God win. Satan loses. Every time. 

So, make sure you call on your partner, God, any time. He is always there and is waiting for you to call. 

Final score: You and God – 1; Satan 0.

Configure/Reconfigure

Configure means to set up or arrange something so it works in a particular way.

 

The last plane I flew as a Navy pilot was the S-3A Viking.  Built by Lockheed, it was a twin jet, carrier-based submarine hunter.  It carried a crew of four and its primary mission was to search, detect, track, localize, and sink Soviet submarines in order to protect the carrier group.  When the Soviet Union collapsed on December 26, 1991, the submarine threat disappeared, so the Navy had to find a new use for it.

 

Reconfigure means to change or adjust something that is already set up.

 

Since the S-3A was basically out of a job, the Navy came up with several new missions.  It was used to inflight refuel other planes, some were modified to carry cargo.  Others were changed to do electronic warfare.  Others were changed so they could fire missiles at land targets, such as radar and missile sites during both Gulf wars.  A lot of thought, planning, and design changes went to accomplish this, a wide variety.

 

The second article I wrote for this blog in December 2014 was “To Love and to Serve”.  In it I quoted a lesson I memorized in the first grade:

 

Who made you?

God made me.

Why did God make you?

To love and serve him in this life and be with him for eternity in the next.

 

In other words, God configured us to do just that.  Regardless of how we do it, how we worship and serve him, we are doing it in the way he designed us.

 

When Lockheed modified the S-3A for its new missions, not only did they make changes to the plane itself, but they also made changes to the software in its computer.

 

God designed our “software” to live, play, work, love and pray, all to accomplish that which he designed in us.

 

We frequently hear about hacking, invading a different computer and making changes to its software.  It may be just to steal someone’s money, or disrupt the function and operations of a company, to freeze a computer and then collect a ransom to unlock it, or even disrupt something major, like a utility.   The most common name for this is virus.  So other companies have designed software to detect and block these viruses.

 

There is also a hacker that attacks God and all of us.  He employs a wide variety of methods and helpers to try to succeed.  His “handle” is Satan and he is working 24/7 to try to infect us with his virus.  Obviously, he succeeds sometimes and turns us away from God as he reconfigures us to his ways.  The name of this virus is SIN.  When this happens, and it does, God does everything he can to re-reconfigure us back to him.  This is named FORGIVENESS.  And it brings us back.  By the way, God has a powerful antivirus.  He named it GRACE.  When we use it, we don’t get infected with SIN.

 

So, it is up to us, you and me, to stay in God’s configuration, to listen to his words, and use GRACE to protect us.

 

So, are you protecting yourself?  And on those times when Satan infects you, are you using FORGIVENESS to change?  God has a limitless supply.  So be sure to use it as often as you need it.  All you have to do is ask.

Team

 

God tells me what to write in various ways.  I’ve had words just pop into my head, different things I see, like once a bumper sticker, songs as you’ve no doubt seen if you have read many of these.  This time my wife, a real estate broker/owner, was talking about her team and that word shouted in my head, TEAM!

 

We have heard the cliches about team.  There is no “I” in team, team is an acronym that stands for “Together Everyone Achieves More”.  Most of us have been on some kind of team, sports, academic, hobbies, organizations, and others.  Regardless of what kind of team, there are a few common characteristics: a member has a certain loyalty, emphasizing the whole instead of individual needs or desires, working together to achieve a common goal.  It is all about the team and teamwork.

 

All throughout the bible, we see teams that answered God’s calls and directions. When the Israelites were together and following God, they were successful and victorious.  When they turned their backs on God, disaster struck.  The obvious big example is the trip from Egypt to the Promised Land.  This is at best a walk of three or four weeks.  It took them 40 years.  Time and again they went a different way, sometimes following false gods.  It is hard to imagine a team with 600,000 men of fighting age, but that is what it was. 

 

We as Christians follow the teachings and directions of Jesus Christ and his father.  We are separated into various sects and religions, but the one common link is our following Jesus.  Some of us do so very diligently with daily prayer, reading the bible, and living in such a way that people who see us know which team we are on.  On the opposite end are those who claim to be Christians, but do nothing to follow him.  Most of us are somewhere in between.

 

Which kind are you?  Are you on one end, a loyal follower, or on the other end where people would be surprised to hear your claim to follow Jesus?

 

Take a self-assessment.  Are you doing what you need to do, want to do, to be on his team as a loyal player?  You don’t have to be biblical scholar, or ordained minister.  Or you could say you pray more often.  Does that mean being on your knees for an hour every day?  Or, you could pray for 60 seconds?  It doesn’t have to have a timer, and it doesn’t have to be formal.  It can just be a conversation.  God will listen and he will answer, sometimes as the faintest whisper.  God may send someone else to deliver his part of the conversation.  Do you read the bible?  I saw an article recently which had a program on how to read the bible in a year.  We can go to church regularly, not just to put a checkmark in the box, but to really worship him with others of your team.

 

Whatever you do is personal, it’s up to you.  Just make up your mind to live in such a way that you are the best ever team.

 

P.S. There is another team out there.  It is logical to think that if we are on a team, there is an opposing team.  It is a very strong team, with a very dedicated coach.  He goes by many names, but one we know well is Satan.  Coach Satan is constantly recruiting, no one is immune to his offers.  He believes that if he makes the right offer, the right incentive, he can recruit any one of us.  Our team is stronger, our coach is stronger, but it is up to us to constantly practice what God has taught us.  Satan believes he can win.  We know, and God knows, that the game, the war, never ends.  It is up to each of you to make sure that we always win.  You will be tempted, never doubt it.  If you follow God’s coaching, you, and we, will win.

"I'm Great"

 

Picture yourself in a common situation: you are walking down a hall or somewhere at work and you see someone you know coming towards you.  The resulting conversation would go something like this:

“Hi, good morning, how are you?”

“I’m great.  How about you?”

“I’m great”

and you both continue on your ways.  Did you really care how that person was feeling or doing, or was that just an automatic conversation?  Most likely it was just a rhetorical question.  You didn’t really care how that person felt.  And that person didn’t really care about you, either.  Why didn’t you stop and ask?  That person may have stopped as well.  What if the first response was “lousy” or “frustrated” or “absolutely terrific!”   You may not have really heard it, or you may have responded, “Me, too” without really knowing what your response entailed.   Because neither of you actually cared, it was just a fleeting social moment.  But, if you stopped, then you know, and cared. 

Try this the next time: stop walking and call him or her by name, get the attention, then ask this way: “Good morning, (name), how are you doing this morning?  Maybe add a comment as appropriate, like, “you’re looking good”.  And that person may respond in kind.  A 30 second conversation showing you do care or are interested on some level.  The person may be a total stranger and you may have made his or her day a touch better.

 God cares and God watches over us.  He cares about you as a unique person he knows.  Maybe you will hear his voice in your heart or your soul, like the tiniest whisper.  He wants to know how you are doing in any particular way, although he already knows.  It is just his way of letting you know he cares, even in the smallest way.

 I’m sure you have had the experience of having one of those days, be it great, be it lousy.  Then someone stops and ask you how you are…and listen, perhaps adding feedback or support or just an acknowledgement.  If you ask why the person talked to you, asked about you, the answer will probably be something like, “I just had this impulse when I saw you.”  That impulse is spelled G-O-D.  That person may not realize the real impetus was God, for he doesn’t advertise his presence.  He doesn’t  grab someone and say, “Hey, John, this is God.  Go see how Mike is doing”.  He is just the director, picking out someone to carry his message that he cares.  Most likely, you won’t think about it being a message from God, but it is.

 God cares about all of his creatures, from the smallest to his greatest creation, us.  Since that is true, then perhaps the next time you talk to someone, asking about them, you may be doing God’s work, delivering his message that he sees us, knows us, loves us unconditionally.

 God doesn’t have to tell us he is great.  He has countless messengers – and a big book for a reference.

The Gravest Hurt

 

In 1944, a group known forever as the Mills Brother recorded a song for which they became famous, a song that has endured for decades, “You Always Hurt The One You Love.”  Here is the start:

You always hurt the one you love,

The one you shouldn’t hurt at all.

 

Although this is written and sung as a love song, the theme can stretch well beyond that.  The people we love include not just lovers, spouses, but also parents, siblings, dear friends and others who step in and out of our lives throughout the years.

 

The second verse starts with this:

You always break the kindest heart

With a hasty word you can’t recall.

 

Recall is not about remembering, it is about not being able to call or take it back.

 

As I said above, we hurt those we love, whether we mean to do so or inadvertently by a careless or thoughtless word or act.

 

Who else do we hurt?  That would be the most precious of all, God.  And the way we do that is through sin.  Every time we sin, in whatever matter or means, we hurt God.  We may do or say something to someone.  Remember Christ told us the least we do to a child, we also do it to him.  Expanding on that, the least we do to someone else, we are also doing it to God.  He feels our joys and our pains, so he knows and feels whatever we did, and that someone else feels.

 

The gravest hurt we can do to God is to turn our backs on him, to deny him, to spurn his love of us.  Whether it is a matter of denying him or turning instead to the Prime Enemy, Satan.

 

Just as God tells us to forgive those who harm us, so too will he forgive us when we hurt him.  The best news is his arms are always open to welcome us back.  His forgiveness is infinite, all we have to do is ask.

 

So take a good look at your dealings with God.  Have you hurt him through some sin, grave or small?  You don’t have to go to church to ask him to forgive you, you just have to ask.  If you are more comfortable confessing to a minister, priest, or rabbi, to be told how God loves you and forgives you, then absolutely do so.

 

Remember this:

God waits

Just ask

Legacy

 

We have all heard the word “legacy” and it is used to describe various things or people.  Webster’s Dictionary says:

1.      Something that is willed to someone by a person who has died.

2.      Something transmitted by or received from an ancestor or predecessor or from the past.

3.      A candidate for membership in an organization who is given special status because of a familial relationship to a member.

 

All of these are focused on something given or received, whether it is money, property, membership sponsorship.  A legacy can also be the person who came before, who left the legacy behind.

 

If you have read any of previous writings, you have seen how I sometimes draw on songs that have words or thoughts that incorporate into them.  This is one of those:  Randy Travis, the country singer, titled “Three Wooden Crosses”, which was released in 2002 and rose to number one.  This is part of the chorus:

“It’s not what you take when you leave this world behind you, it’s what you leave behind you when you go.”

 

Jesus Christ came into the world like the rest of us as a newborn baby.  The last three years of the 33 he was here formed his ministry.  When he left and returned to his father in heaven, he left behind a fledgling legacy, a small movement with the 12 members.  These 12 men took this legacy and carried it out into the whole world, named after its founder, Christianity.

 

Over the next 20 centuries, it grew into a movement that spanned the entire world.  It grew and shrunk, its members were glorified and persecuted, but his legacy lives on and continues to grow.  There are variations of it, but the one bottom line is they all praise and glorify Jesus Christ.

 

Enough of history.   Everyone is a candidate for membership.  We are all related to Jesus Christ, we all have the same father.  That gives us all that special status.  Those of us who are his followers, Christians all, come from all walks of life, every ethnic group.  Some of us practice our belief daily, some only weekly, and some have lapsed in following his legacy.  He welcomes all of us regardless of our level of dedication.  He loves us all.

 

Go back and read that part of Randy Travis’ song.  You are going to leave your legacy to those who come after you.  What is that going to be?  Is it something that will grow his legacy even more?  Like the last line goes, “It’s what you leave behind you when you go.”

 

What are you going to leave behind, what will be your legacy?

 

 

The Scavenger Hunt

 Several years ago when our two local grandsons were little, we came up with an idea to add a little fun to Christmas. We called it “The Scavenger Hunt”. Basically, we gave one of them a piece of paper with a clue to go somewhere in the house. Once there, he would find another clue to go to another place. The last clue took him to where his present was hidden. Then we did the same to the other one. We did this every year since then and each year they, now grown adults, ask if there is going to be another scavenger hunt. 

I am in charge of creating these clues for the hunt and I use a simple poetic format for each one. Here is a sample taken from one of the sets of clues: 

So there’s no need to grumble and shout, 

Nor to race and run to the place. 

Go take a chance, 

With more than a glance, 

To the cooker that slides in and out. 

The cooker is a drawer microwave. If you aren’t familiar with it, it is a microwave mounted in a drawer and slides out and in with a button on the front. I am up to putting seven clues in each set and create three or four sets each year. In addition to the two guys, we also include a girlfriend or wife in the game. Some people hunt for God the same way. They may go to one person who has a message, but not a complete one. So they go to someone else or to one church and another church and still another. Perhaps each stop points the way to the next, or it is frustration at not finding God yet. Finally, they receive the whole message and find God and his loving message. It may have been a minister, a priest, a rabbi, a friend, a church, or the bible. However they did it and not how long or difficult the search, they now have the ultimate prize, the ultimate gift, God’s love. God’s love was always there, as it is for all of us, but he or she had to find him and let him into their lives. How about you? Have you found God and are living in his love? Or, are you still searching, bouncing from one clue to another? Don’t quit! God is leading you down the path you need to walk. He is not going to give up or quit on you, so don’t you quit either. The ultimate prize is worth the struggle.

Twinkle, Twinkle ...

We have all heard that nursery rhyme, that one that goes, “Twinkle, twinkle, little star…” And those of us who have kids have most likely repeated it to them. Did you ever stop and realize that this is the first astronomy lesson? It’s true. Remember that stars twinkle and planets do not because they are reflecting the light from the sun. the same as the moon’s light is a reflection of sun light. I am writing this in Dallas, Texas and it is mid-November. Once the sun has set and it is dark, there are these planets visible without a telescope: Venus, Jupiter, and Saturn. Venus is a mere 25 million miles away from us, Jupiter 360 million miles, and Saturn 800 million miles from Earth. Now think about this: the distance from the sun to Saturn and back to Earth is only 1.7 billion miles. And yet we ca still see it unaided. It takes a total of two hours, 22 minutes for the light to make that journey! That is how bright our sun is. 

God created the planets, stars, and other things that are out there … and he is still doing it. The age of the universe is about 10 billion years old, but new stars and planets are being born and old ones die. Maybe this is how the supreme being has fun. And they are all different sizes. There is a red dwarf star that is 1/7th the size of our sun. The largest known star is UY Scuti. It is so large that you could take our solar system almost to Saturn, just about a 100 million miles less than its distance from the sun, and put it inside UY Scuti. It has a radius of 738 million miles. And God created both, the dwarf and the largest. 

Some night walk out and away from surrounding lights and look up and reflect on the wonder and glory of all of the stars and planets you can see unaided. There are about 5,000 stars visible. Our galaxy, the Milky Way, has about 400 billion stars, and there are about 170 million galaxies … and God created all of it, and is still doing so. 

The next time you read about creation in the bible, that God created the heavens and the earth, try to wrap your head around just how enormous is all you can see and can’t see and stand there in total awe of God and all he has created, far beyond the limits of what we can imagine. It the words of that old hymn, “Out God is an awesome God.” Truly he is.

The Silence

 Silence: the opposite of sound, or the lack of it. Silence is present in word and action throughout our lives, in song and entertainment and life. We hear that “Silence is golden” and songs like “The Sounds of Silence” by Simon and Garfunkel from 1967, the movie “Silence of the Lambs”, a cliché tells us the silence was deafening. Then there are people who live in silence. I’m not talking about dead people here. In the Catholic Church, the Trappist Monks live in silence and prayer and contemplation of God.

We have all, at one time or another, experienced God’s silence. We know that when we pray to God, whether in praise or the request something, he hears us. It is a tenet of our faith that God answers all of our prayers, sometimes with a “yes” and sometimes with a “no”. But how about all of the other times when all we get from God in answer to our prayers is … nothing. Silence. We pray, we make offerings, sometimes we try to make a deal with him. And more nothing, more silence.

 I wrote a piece a few years back titled “God’s Good Time”. And that is sometimes how it is when we pray. We just aren’t ready for the answer yet.

Maybe sometimes God has a different motive for being silent. Think back to the story of Job in the Old Testament. He lost it all: family, crops, animals, buildings, health. Three of his friends insisted he must have done something really wrong to make God so angry that he visited all of these things on Job. We know that the purpose was to show Satan that Job’s faith was strong, that regardless of what befell him, he did not break faith with God. Surely, Job wondered why God was silent, not answering his prayers for relief and deliverance. In the end, Job was richly rewarded by God for his unwavering faith. 

How about us? Do you think that maybe God is giving us an opportunity to show our faith? It would certainly be easy to turn our back on God when we aren’t getting any response from him. Some may even go to the point of questioning God’s very existence. There is another cliché, “Keep the faith, baby”. That is what it is all about, staying faithful regardless of what happens to us, in that silence period. And when it is done, when God responds once again, what has happened to your faith? It has gotten stronger. You have added to the strength of your faith and are more able to resist the attacks of the Enemy. Remember, that in order for a muscle to get stronger, it must be damaged first and the healing gives it strength. The point where a bone breaks is stronger there after it heals than the rest of the bone. So, it is with our faith in that when we have come through a period of trial, our faith is even stronger than before. 

So, why does God do these things or allow them to happen? It could be that we need to discover just how strong we really are. Perhaps God knows we are going to come to a period of trial that tests our faith, and he is preparing us by making us stronger. 

How about you? Is God answering your prayers? If so, great. Are you experiencing God’s gift of silence? Also great! We may see his purpose then or it may be off in our future. It is a gift and you have the chance to use it wisely. So just accept it, just do it.

The In-Between

 In 1954 the movie, White Christmas was released. It starred Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney, and Vera Allen. One of the many songs was sung by Rosemary Clooney and Vera Allen. That song was “Sisters”. The last two lines of the song are:

 “Lord help the mister who comes between me and my sister.

             And Lord help the sister who comes between me and my man.” 

It was a cute and humorous song and, yes, it is out there on YouTube. (You knew I was going to say that, didn’t you?) 

The simple message is obvious, of course, that neither sister would let someone coming between them and, equally, neither sister would tolerate her sister interfering with her and her man. 

Let me expand on that a bit and how that sentiment should be a part of our lives. Bottom line, what do you allow to come between you and the rest of your life and your life around you. Do you allow your job or hobby take you away from your family, whether that be parents and siblings or spouse and children? Yes, most of us have to work and having a hobby or other outside interest is not a bad thing. It is finding the right balance that is important. Sometimes that which comes between a couple is when one spouse has an affair. There is no way to balance that. 

How about the spiritual side of your life? Those of us who are believers need and want God to be an integral part of our lives. Yet, too many of us allow or even encourage something or someone to come between us and God. On a day when you should be focusing on God, what is there instead? I know that not everyone who believes in God goes to church. There are many who worship God in private or worship online or by watching a service on television. Is what comes between us, between work, a hobby, the worn out statement that starts with, “This is the only day I can …”? Really? Of the 168 hours in a week, there isn’t any way to fix your activities so you can give one or two to God? If you developed a new interest, I’ll bet you would find some way to adjust your schedule to fit it in. God isn’t a new interest, but why not treat it that way? If you can fit in a new hobby or activity, then you can definitely find time for God. It is all about what is really important. 

Life is what it is and there are many parts to it. Is God one of those parts? If not, what is coming between you and the one who created you and loves you? What can you do to change it? More importantly, what are you going to do to change it? To paraphrase the last line of that song: 

“Lord help the (something) that comes between me and my God.”

It's Reality

Recently I was looking for a book to read. I am one of those people who always have at least one book in progress, sometimes two or three. Looking through the books and wanting something I had not read in a while, I picked up “Heaven Is For Real" by Todd Burpo. It is a true story about his son, Colton. A couple of months before his fourth birthday, he became extremely sick and was finally diagnosed with a burst appendix and was taken into emergency. While he was in surgery, he went to heaven. He met the Trinity, a grandfather he never knew and a sister whom his mother lost while pregnant. He saw many and experienced many wonderful things. I’m not going to recreate the book or the subsequent movie other than to say you should read the book. One of the interesting photos in the book is a painting of Jesus Christ. It was done by an eight year old girl, Akiane Kramarik, who had started having visions of heaven when she was four. When Colton saw the painting, he told his dad that this is what Jesus looks like.

It would be easy to blow off the book or Colton’s experiences. After all, there are other books by people who had near-death experiences and saw Jesus and dead relatives. Some scientists and doctors debunk the stories by saying these people were starved for oxygen and these were hallucinations. I don’t know whether they are true or not. Colton’s story is totally believable. Go read it.

Throughout the book, Colton describes his experiences in bits and pieces. He tells many details about what heaven is like, both in terms of everyone he met and what it looked like, a place of wonder and beauty. We have other descriptions of heaven, Revelations and other parts of the bible. Colton’s descriptions of God the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit, bring a reality to just how wonderful and loving they are, and what being in heaven is like. This is the reward that awaits us when it is our turn to go. It is far more vivid and real than the other descriptions from the many ministers I have heard. 

This is what awaits you, as God’s good and faithful servant. This is your reward for being one of God’s people. So the message of this writing is to follow him, obey his laws and commandments and live forever in eternity in the presence of God’

Where Are The Men?

Once upon a time, men were men and manly. The dad was the head of the family and his wife and children looked up to him as the leader. He was the one whose praise and approval were most sought. If you messed up, there was no more fear-inducing statement that your mother could make than, “Wait until your father gets home.” His physical stature didn’t matter so much as the stature of his position as the husband and father. He was looked up to and admired. Boys wanted to be what their father was when they grew up. Girls wanted to marry a guy who was just like their dad. It was a time when men, husbands, and fathers, were looked up to and respected just because that is the way it was. Men knew their duty, their place, and acted in that role. Today, that falls under the heading of, “Once upon a time…” 

So, what happened to those days? They were depicted in TV shows such as “Father Knows Best” and “My Three Sons”. Sons bragged about their dads, even to the silly, “My dad can beat up your dad!” 

Today, we see a totally different picture. Too often we hear women complaining that their husbands do nothing, they don’t take charge or make decisions, or only act when asked rather than initiating action when it is needed. Men today won’t even make a decision about which restaurant to visit when taking their wife out to eat. The awe or fear that was once felt by their children has been replaced by indifference or annoyance and disbelief. Today, men seem to see their role as bringing home the money that buys the bacon. The kids bypass him and go to their mother for the leadership and approval they once received from him. The role that God created in the very beginning for men has, in too many households, disappeared. The sad thing is men have allowed it to happen, and even support the new status quo. They don’t see themselves as leaders. Their attitude seems to be that they can’t change it so they might as well accept it. They grew up in a matriarchal family and handed over the reins to their wives after they got married. 

While there are certainly many different ideas and theories why this has happened, here is mine. We are influenced by what we see and hear. One of the strongest sources of that influence is television programming. Since the 1950’s, men have been depicted more as fools than as heroes on situation comedies. The standard scenario is, at the end of the program, the wife comes across as the “wise woman” and the husband is depicted as the bumbler, the fool. Think of the original “I Love Lucy” shows. While Lucy was shown as being foolish and in trouble at the beginning and through the middle of the episode, at the end, it was her husband, Desi, who was the fool and she was the wise one. Carry that same train of thought through “The Dick Van Dyke Show” and others from that era. 

Do you want a look at more recent times? How about “Everybody Loves Raymond”? Both Raymond and his father were bumblers, constantly being overshadowed by their wives. The sexual side of marriage was constantly being ridiculed. Raymond was depicted as having to practically beg his wife to make love, and it was often shown as his reward for good behavior rather than a joyous sharing of love and affection between two people who loved each other. 

Imagine a scenario for a situation comedy starring three women who live in the same house: a career woman, her sister, who is a professional, and the sister’s teenage daughter. The career woman amuses herself by cruising the bars and bringing home a guy whose name she doesn’t remember the next morning. The professional sister is socially inept, divorced, and unable to form a lasting relationship. The teenage daughter is rude and disrespectful to both of them. Can you just hear the objections from women calling the show degrading, disrespectful, and a total insult to women? Well, that show was on television for many years, except it is called, “Two and A Half Men!” Just think of the picture it portrays of men and how that could influence people and their view of how men act in this society. By the way, who is the “wise woman” in that show? The housekeeper, of course. 

Your natural objection to the above is, “But these are just comedies, no one takes them seriously, right?” Perhaps they aren’t meant to be taken seriously, but a sixty year diet of them can’t help but influence how men are looked at and treated. God did not create men to be fools or dunces. He did not set them down to be the servant, but rather to lead, to make the critical decisions that need to be made. It is time for men to return to the role which God ordained in the beginning, not as dictators, but has loving leaders.

The Nuclear Option

 The nucleus is at the center of every atom that makes up the physical matter of our world. Once just a part of theory in physics, it was thought to be a potential source of tremendous energy. During World War II, scientists and researchers in what was known as the Manhattan Project showed that if the nucleus of an atom of uranium was bombarded with neutrons, it would start a chain reaction that could, if uncontrolled, lead to a massive release of energy, an explosion. This was demonstrated first in the New Mexico desert when an atomic bomb was detonated. Later, two bombs were constructed for use against Japan. President Truman had the awesome and frightful decision to exercise the first Nuclear Option, whether to use those two weapons against Japan. That he did so in August 1945 against the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki shows that he made a difficult decision which killed thousands of people and brought about the surrender of Japan and an end to World War II. 

Today we have controlled nuclear detonations going on throughout the world in the production of electricity. The physics is still the same: nuclei being bombarded with neutrons in a controlled way to benefit us. A seemingly endless source of power used for our good. Yes, there are those people who disagree with nuclear energy, but for the most part, we have accepted that the benefits far outweigh the risks. 

There is another nucleus in our world: God. As believers in His existence, we know that He is the center of everything, the source of all of the power and energy. An atom has to give up part of its nucleus in order to start the chain reaction to create energy. God is infinite and gives each one of us a part of Himself when we are created. That part is our immortal soul, that part of us that is created in His image and likeness. God had the option whether to create all that He has, including us. Because He is allloving, He had to share that love and the part of that which benefits us is our creation. 

God gave many gifts to us when He created the human race. One of the greatest of these is that of free will. That means we have the choice to obey Him or not. We have the choice whether to believe in Him or not. That is our nuclear option: whether to believe in Him who created us all. That answer lies in the core of our being, our existence. At the very center of us, at the soul level, we know that God is our creator. Our soul is a part of Him and as a part of Him we know that He truly exists. There are many in the world around us who deny Him, who claim He does not exist. All they need to do is to look into their own nucleus and feel the wonderful loving presence of God. That they choose to not do so is their nuclear option, exercising the very gift of free will we have always had. 

Regardless of what we do with our lives, be it good or bad, we will always be a part of the loving God who created us and implanted in our own nucleus His undying love for us. Can we do less than return that love by following His laws and His desires for us? Reach all the way down into the very core of your being and listen to what He has planted there for you, the guidance that He has given each one of us to follow our own individual path to an eternity with Him.

Behind Closed Doors

 If you are old enough or are a fan of old country music, then you probably remember Charlie Rich’s hit single, “Behind Closed Doors” from 1973. The song describes the woman he loves, how she is in public and how loving she is when the doors are closed and they are alone. It was, and is, a great song and it was a #1 hit for him.

There are other things that happen behind closed doors, and I could be talking about abuse of different kinds, like spouse abuse or child abuse, but I’m not. What this is about is closing the doors to keep yourself in and shutting others out.

We all like our privacy and want to be able to choose those who are around us. Sometimes, those who are with us, whether family, friends or acquaintances, do or say something that upsets us. At that point, we separate ourselves from them and go our separate way. There is nothing wrong with that is there? Not usually, but what if that person is a family member or someone who has been that close before? At what point do we draw the line and decide to never talk to that person or be with them again? There are some actions that deserve that treatment, like violence or abuse. What about harsh words, broken promises, or hurt feelings? What about forgiveness?

One of the things that sets Christianity apart from the rest of the world’s religions is its concept of forgiveness. It is a key part of the Lord’s Prayer. Jesus himself said we are to forgive others “seventy times seven times”, which really means there is no limit to the number of times we should forgive. If that is the case, and it is, then why do so many Christians who practice their faith so diligently refuse to forgive others?

Just listen to people who close the door to their homes and their hearts to a family member who has upset them in the past. They have all sorts of reasons or excuses for shutting that person out of their lives. Parents become estranged from their children, siblings no longer talk to each other, and the best of friends shun each other’s presence. I am not talking about a short period of time while someone works off a mad. I am talking about something that may go on for years, something that neither party is willing to resolve. Maybe one party will reach out to the other in an effort to apologize, to heal the hurt, and reunite. The door remains closed. The other party stays behind those closed doors. Where is Christ in that place, in that cold heart? We read in the Bible that if we have a problem with our brother and have brought our gifts to the altar, we are to leave them there and go reconcile first. So, why don’t we? Why do we not follow what Jesus has told us repeatedly to do?

Even the most devout Christian can be fooled by the Father of Lies into thinking they are justified in feeling the way they do. The Enemy cannot help but gloat over the situation, dancing for joy at the havoc he has created. The person behind the closed door can certainly rationalize his or her behavior in some way. Remember though, that “rationalize” is “rational lies” that we tell ourselves to justify words and actions which go against God’s teaching.

Are you hiding behind one of those closed doors? Who are you keeping away? Why? What would happen if you opened that door, if you invited that person back into your heart? Again, remember, I am not talking about someone who presents a danger to you and those you love. I am talking about someone who should be a part of your life but isn’t.

Look around you. Where is that person? Why not have Jesus help you to turn that doorknob and open not just your door but also your heart? You never know what you might find on the other side.

Friction

Several decades ago when I was growing up, if you wanted to light a cigarette or start a fire, there was basically two choices: a match or a Zippo lighter. Now I’m sure that most of you may not know about Zippo lighters. It had a small metal case with a flip top and a screw in the bottom. The screw in the bottom was to squirt lighter fluid into the lighter and there was cotton inside to hold it. Under the flip top were a wick, a flint, and a wheel that touched the flint. In order to light the wick, you spun the wheel, which scraped the flint and created sparks which, in turn, lit the wick. Matches are much older, invented and improved in the mid and late 19th century. The basic match is either a wood stick or small cardboard stick. The head of the match is primarily potassium chlorate. When it is rubber across a striking surface it will light. The striking surface is a rough surface containing primarily red phosphorus. When the match head I scrubbed against it, the two chemicals are combined and that is what causes the match. What is common between the lighter and the match? Friction. Whether it is a wheel scrapping a flint or a match rubber against a rough surface, they both need friction to create fire.

So, what does this long chemistry lesson have to do with us? We refer to it in a variety of ways. If two people don’t get along, we talk about the friction between them that lights a fire which can escalate to angry words, violence or even death. We say that one rubbed the other the wrong way. On the other hand, we talk about two lovers and how they just create the right sparks that ignites their relationship. Dating someone seriously was once called sparking.

Take the first part of that last paragraph and think about it. Who have you rubbed the wrong way? Fix it. Has someone else rubbed you the wrong way? Talk to them, resolve it, forgive them, and fix it. Are they someone who will not talk to you or will not do anything to fix it? Pray for them, forgive them, and move on. But be open to them should God’s grace lead them back to you and give you the opportunity to fix it. Consider the following:

Matthew 5:23 – 24: 23 Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24 leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. (NKJV)

Of course, all of this talk about friction, sparks, and fire would not be complete without remembering the time when God struck a spark and started a fire. That fire is the one that never quenches, never consumes, and never dies. That fire is the fires of hell and the realm of the Enemy.

That’s a whole lot of words to get to the question of what does all of that have to do with our relationship with God? Well, we constantly reference it when we talk about our relationship with him. We talk about a preacher who preaches about fire and brimstone. We talk about preachers who are on fire for the Lord. Then there is your wanting to create a spark in someone to fire them up for the faith, to direct them down the right path towards the light. We talk about getting someone around strong believers so some of that will rub off, friction again, and point them towards God. I’m sure you can come up with examples of your own, so think about it.

How about you? Do you have God’s fire in you? I’m not saying you have to go stand on a street corner and preach to the passersby. If someone asks you if you are a follower of God, of his son, Jesus Christ,

do you mumble a quiet “yes” or do you admit it in such a way that the questioner knows here you stand in your faith. Or maybe you are one of those who deny your faith because it isn’t popular or politically correct to be one of his. If you are just lukewarm, what can you do to create a spark that will light your fire? Who or what will be that which you rub against, scrape against, that crates the friction that brings fire, warmth, and light into your life, your soul, and to all of those around you?

Remember that fire warms as well as destroys, so why not do whatever it takes for you to be in the warmth of God’s love. If you are not there today, then today is the day to start. Do it.

It's The Wolf!

 We have all heard the cliché about the wolf in sheep’s clothing. It is usually used to describe a person who shows a good exterior in terms of looks and behavior, but uses that to conceal an opposite and evil side. I thought of that for some reason the other day and wondered where it came from. One source is Matthew 7:15:

Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. (NKJV)

I also found a source in one of Aesop’s Fables. He was a slave and storyteller in ancient Greece between 620 and 564 BCE. His story goes like this:

Once there was a wolf who could not get enough to eat because the shepherds were too watchful. One day he found a sheepskin, put it on, slipped into the flock, and ate one of the sheep. He followed them back into the barn in order to eat one later. However, the shepherd decided he wanted lamb stew, so he went to the barn and chose a sheep (actually the wolf) and killed it. The moral of the story is seek to do harm and harm will come to you.

Lastly, of course, is the tale of Little Red Riding Hood. I’m sure you remember how the wolf tried to fool her by dressing up like her grandma. The story ends with the wolf being discovered and killed by the hunter.

In our secular world today we meet many sheep. I don’t mean the shy, withdrawn, quiet introverts, but rather good people and good companies. Unfortunately, a few of them turn out to be wolves. A typical example would be an investment banker who takes his clients’ money and then swindles them.

How about in our personal and spiritual lives? Satan definitely fills the role of the wolf to perfection. He is the Father of Lies, which includes all of the tricks and deceptions. While you aren’t likely to actually meet him face-to-face, he is constantly on the prowl looking for souls to gobble up. His treachery is often subtle, with small temptations. We may reject them at first, but he will keep trying and trying until he finds the right circumstance, the right temptation, to start you down his path and away from God. It doesn’t matter who you are, we have all fallen under that spell and put a foot on that path. So, where do we turn for help? The Good Shepherd!

In John 10:14-15, Jesus said: “I am the Good Shepherd; I know my sheep and they know me. Just as the Father knows me and I know the Father, and I lay down my life for my sheep.” (NIV)

And that is exactly what he did on Good Friday.

So, what are you going to do about the Wolf, Satan, when he comes to call? He won’t be wearing a sheepskin. He may be in a nice suit or she might be in a pretty dress. In either or any case, it is still the Wolf. So, how do you figure it out? By constantly praying for our Lord’s protection, that he makes sure our eyes are open and our hearts and souls are on his path. He has given us the power and strength to recognize the sheepskin; we just have to use it as he taught us. So, are you asking for his vision and protection or are you trying to do it on your own? The second choice leads to the loss of everything, including eternity with God. Ask and you will receive he told us, so why wouldn’t you, why don’t you?

It Ain't Always Bad

There’s a song written by Bruno Mars, Phillip Lawrence, and Ari Leving, and recorded by Mars, called “Count On Me.” There are a few different versions with minor deviations in the first verse, but the one I heard first was sung by The Sea Chanters, which is the vocal group that is part of the U.S. Navy Band. It is out there on YouTube, along with several hours of music performed by the band.

The first line of the chorus is this:

    “You can count on me like one-two-three

        I’ll be there”

If we look at the song as if God and we are having a conversation, how would we look at it? Now, on first glance it is easy to assume that this is God talking to us, promising us. But, if you look at the next line, you might come to a different conclusion:

    “And I know when I need it

    I can count on you like four-three-two

    And you’ll be there

    ‘Cause that’s friends are s’posed to do, oh yeah.”

Now the critical question is which part of the two parts of the chorus is you talking to God and which is you listening to what God has to say to you? How about both?

In good times and bad, and even in between, there is God’s promise to us to be there when we need him and there when we don’t think we do. Yes, he is always there for us, of course. Sometimes we may feel we can do whatever it is on our own. For some reason, it usually doesn’t turn out quite the way we envisioned it. God is always there for us, helping even though we don’t think we need it. We must not try to cut him out by trying to go it alone. That is God’s message in the first line of the chorus.

But don’t we also have a part to play in that line? Certainly our role to play is to let God know he can count on us to do his work, follow his teaching, obey the rules he gave to us thousands of years ago. Whether we do so by becoming one of his ministers and spreading his word to others or by just living the way he wants us to live, to show by example how he is an integral part of our lives, it is our role to play.

The second line of the chorus is our declaration of faith. We are saying that we believe he is there for us at all times and in all ways, that we can always count on him to be forever in our lives.

That line of the chorus is also God’s statement of having faith in us to live our lives according to his desires, as spelled out in the book he gave to us. Knowing that he counts on us is not a burden, but rather a source of joy in knowing we are doing his work, furthering his desires to bring everyone to him.

So, yes, we do what is needed for each other, are there for each other, give out of love what we each can give, and know without doubt we are both loved in return.

It's Wonderful!

 There is an oldies radio station that I usually listen to which plays music from the 70’s, 80’s, and 90’s, with an occasional song from the 60’s thrown into the air. When I am driving down the road, I can go back in time, remembering those times, and sing along with those words. The other morning, I had to back my car out of the driveway so my wife could leave. Just a few seconds after I started the car, an old Elvis Presley song came on, “The Wonder of You”.

If you have never heard it before, or your memory of the words has gotten dim, here is the first verse:

    When no one else can understand me

    When everything I do is wrong

    You give me hope and consolation

    You give me strength to carry on.

    And you’re always there to lend a hand

    In everything I do

    That’s the wonder

    The wonder of you

While the song is obviously a love song of course, especially considering who sang it, just take the time to listen to the whole song. (YouTube, of course) This first verse is a very powerful declaration of our faith in God. It admits to him that sometimes we are less than perfect (by human standards), that sometimes we really screw things up. Even when we do that, he is still there; he lends a hand and helps us when we stumble, when we fall.

We, each of us, has a friend, someone who is there for us in good times and bad. On those rare occasions, this may be someone who has been there for decades, come what may. Other times, we have a great friend, but with the passing of time, distance, and circumstances, we drift apart. Given that you know yourself best, it may be difficult to know there is an all-powerful, all-knowing, all-loving God who loves us anyway, regardless of what we do, how we live. He even loves those who don’t know him or who deny him. I’m sure there are times when you wonder how he can love you. I know I do. How it must humble us to have someone love us and want to be a part of our lives. God does.

Whether we are faithful followers or one of the prodigals, he is there to give a helping hand whenever we need it. He is there, his hand is out, just waiting for you to reach out and grab it, our wonderful God. Why not make it so in everything you do?