Thursday, December 20, 2007
Thursday, November 29, 2007
He shall be my salvation...
Job would not hush because he trusted God.
He did not understand God, but he trusted God. Job 13:15: "Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him... "(KJV) The NIV puts it thus: "Though He slay me , yet will I hope in Him...(v.16) Indeed, this will turn out for my deliverance..."
In Luke 13, folks asked Jesus (prayed) what could have happened that God would allow a godless ruler like Pilate to kill innocent worshipers who were sacrificing to the Living God?
And Jesus changed the focus from "why this?" to "what should we do, understanding that we do not understand?"
Jesus did not explain or excuse God. As a matter of fact, He added another example of unexplained tragedy, a tower in Siloam falling on 18 people.
After the description of each imponderable, He said (in effect) " Your responsibility is not to understand, but rather, to see that you are where God wants you to be."
Repent means to turn from self-interest to God-interest.
God is good. He cares for you. He cares more for those over whom you weep than you do.
"His compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is Thy faithfulness. The Lord is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in Him" (Lamentations 3:22-24)
"...He careth for you." 1Peter 5:7
You need not hush, but also trust...even in what you do not understand.
He did not understand God, but he trusted God. Job 13:15: "Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him... "(KJV) The NIV puts it thus: "Though He slay me , yet will I hope in Him...(v.16) Indeed, this will turn out for my deliverance..."
In Luke 13, folks asked Jesus (prayed) what could have happened that God would allow a godless ruler like Pilate to kill innocent worshipers who were sacrificing to the Living God?
And Jesus changed the focus from "why this?" to "what should we do, understanding that we do not understand?"
Jesus did not explain or excuse God. As a matter of fact, He added another example of unexplained tragedy, a tower in Siloam falling on 18 people.
After the description of each imponderable, He said (in effect) " Your responsibility is not to understand, but rather, to see that you are where God wants you to be."
Repent means to turn from self-interest to God-interest.
God is good. He cares for you. He cares more for those over whom you weep than you do.
"His compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is Thy faithfulness. The Lord is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in Him" (Lamentations 3:22-24)
"...He careth for you." 1Peter 5:7
You need not hush, but also trust...even in what you do not understand.
Friday, November 23, 2007
Thanks
This Thanksgiving holiday has been a genuine occasion of thanks.
I cannot express in words all that I am thankful for, nor can I sufficiently express my gratitude.
Perhaps, it is lack of practice.
Maybe, I am not even sure what all makes the good part of my life so good.
But in spite of my inability to properly express thanks, let me say, "Thank you," to Jesus and to the family that He has blessed me with.
The grace of God demonstrated by Him and by those He has put into my life constantly amazes me.
I continually feast on meat that nourishes and satisfies in ways far greater than food for the belly.
And though to simply say thank you is meager compensation for the abundant fare of the love of God in Christ and the love of God in my family, I offer my two mites and pray that it is understood...
that though it makes a faint tinkle in the trumpet,
...of my want, I cast in my whole living.
Thank you.
I cannot express in words all that I am thankful for, nor can I sufficiently express my gratitude.
Perhaps, it is lack of practice.
Maybe, I am not even sure what all makes the good part of my life so good.
But in spite of my inability to properly express thanks, let me say, "Thank you," to Jesus and to the family that He has blessed me with.
The grace of God demonstrated by Him and by those He has put into my life constantly amazes me.
I continually feast on meat that nourishes and satisfies in ways far greater than food for the belly.
And though to simply say thank you is meager compensation for the abundant fare of the love of God in Christ and the love of God in my family, I offer my two mites and pray that it is understood...
that though it makes a faint tinkle in the trumpet,
...of my want, I cast in my whole living.
Thank you.
Friday, August 03, 2007
More Friends on the Other Side
Two parts of pastoring that I really like (along with all the others) are weddings and funerals. Weddings are great because the pastor has something that the "to-be-weds" want, power vested in me by the state of Texas to pronounce husband and wife. That being the case, a pastor can ask pointed questions and expect answers.
Funerals afford the opportunity to address people aware of their finiteness. Most people seem to plug along in life without considering that they will breathe a last breath and whatever needs to be done before that last breath, such as making peace with Holy God, can and should be attended to.
But today's funeral was good because it was for a man who for a year has been setting his house in order. Just a couple of weeks ago marked a year since his beloved, grade school aged granddaughter was killed in an accident. Now this man had been around church for all his life, but he had never secured a relationship with Jesus, the only way to the Father and to heaven. He was convinced that his granddaughter was in heaven, being of a tender age and unaccountable for sin, not fully understanding sin, God's hate of it, and His provision of Jesus to deal with it.
This man knew enough Bible to know the story of the rich man and the beggar Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31), who each died - Lazarus opening his eyes in a place prepared for those who have trusted God - and the rich man in Hell, the place prepared for those whose sole focus is on themselves and their stuff. When the formerly rich man asked that Lazarus be sent with a drop of water to quench his thirst, he was informed that there was great gulf between those with God and those separated from God and no one could cross that chasm. The fellow we funeralized today said that he wanted to be on the same side of that gulf as his granddaughter. And he has spent the year reading his Bible, studying, meditating on scripture, attending and becoming part of our local church, and turning his life over to the control of Jesus.
His quest has not been just a church thing. The men he drank coffee with knew about his pursuit of God. His grown sons knew about his pursuit. And in the last few months he had them that he was not particularly anxious to die, but not at all afraid to die. He knew he would be on Jesus' side of the gulf.
His death was unexpected. It was a shock to see him in church Sunday and on Monday morning get a call saying he had suddenly dropped dead. But his funeral was easy because it was a celebration of victory in Jesus. Practically everybody in the small south Texas town where he had been a third-generation owner of a mercantile store knew him as a "good" man, honest, fair, generous...but in his 75th year he became God's man. And everyone who had been near him knew it.
I don't think that God caused a little girl died so that her grandfather would come to know Jesus as savior and Lord, but I believe God used that which seemed beyond comprehension to help a grandfather see that the Son of God died and was raised from the dead so that there would be eternal life for a little girl and her grandfather.
Anybody who attended that funeral heard about a man who sought and found God and it wasn't thousands of years ago. It was this year...but he is fixed up for thousands of years.
Funerals afford the opportunity to address people aware of their finiteness. Most people seem to plug along in life without considering that they will breathe a last breath and whatever needs to be done before that last breath, such as making peace with Holy God, can and should be attended to.
But today's funeral was good because it was for a man who for a year has been setting his house in order. Just a couple of weeks ago marked a year since his beloved, grade school aged granddaughter was killed in an accident. Now this man had been around church for all his life, but he had never secured a relationship with Jesus, the only way to the Father and to heaven. He was convinced that his granddaughter was in heaven, being of a tender age and unaccountable for sin, not fully understanding sin, God's hate of it, and His provision of Jesus to deal with it.
This man knew enough Bible to know the story of the rich man and the beggar Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31), who each died - Lazarus opening his eyes in a place prepared for those who have trusted God - and the rich man in Hell, the place prepared for those whose sole focus is on themselves and their stuff. When the formerly rich man asked that Lazarus be sent with a drop of water to quench his thirst, he was informed that there was great gulf between those with God and those separated from God and no one could cross that chasm. The fellow we funeralized today said that he wanted to be on the same side of that gulf as his granddaughter. And he has spent the year reading his Bible, studying, meditating on scripture, attending and becoming part of our local church, and turning his life over to the control of Jesus.
His quest has not been just a church thing. The men he drank coffee with knew about his pursuit of God. His grown sons knew about his pursuit. And in the last few months he had them that he was not particularly anxious to die, but not at all afraid to die. He knew he would be on Jesus' side of the gulf.
His death was unexpected. It was a shock to see him in church Sunday and on Monday morning get a call saying he had suddenly dropped dead. But his funeral was easy because it was a celebration of victory in Jesus. Practically everybody in the small south Texas town where he had been a third-generation owner of a mercantile store knew him as a "good" man, honest, fair, generous...but in his 75th year he became God's man. And everyone who had been near him knew it.
I don't think that God caused a little girl died so that her grandfather would come to know Jesus as savior and Lord, but I believe God used that which seemed beyond comprehension to help a grandfather see that the Son of God died and was raised from the dead so that there would be eternal life for a little girl and her grandfather.
Anybody who attended that funeral heard about a man who sought and found God and it wasn't thousands of years ago. It was this year...but he is fixed up for thousands of years.
Monday, December 04, 2006
Five Unknowns
1. I used to wish I could walk on my hands. I can some, but when I was walking home from school, I imagined that I could just switch and walk on my hands instead of my feet. I think I lost the desire when I started carrying more stuff in my pockets.
2. I have a recurring dream that I can sort of fly. It is not flying like a bird using my arms as wings and it is not like Super Man with the dive pose. I just sort of jump and pick up my feet into a sitting position and just glide along. No one around seems to think anything of it. I guess I don't fly, I just jump really smooth and as far as I want to.
3. I served in the Army and several years after I got out of the Army, I enlisted in the Navy. I took tests and physicals and all kinds of things and then the Navy lost all my paper work. At that point I remembered what it was (besides the baggy britches) that I hated about the military in those days...they were sooooo inefficient... so government.
4. I was a dancer in a semi-professional chorus line in the musical "Take Me Along," and a tragedian in "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead."
5. I have to get a new password everytime I write on this blog because I can never remember how to log on or what my password is.
2. I have a recurring dream that I can sort of fly. It is not flying like a bird using my arms as wings and it is not like Super Man with the dive pose. I just sort of jump and pick up my feet into a sitting position and just glide along. No one around seems to think anything of it. I guess I don't fly, I just jump really smooth and as far as I want to.
3. I served in the Army and several years after I got out of the Army, I enlisted in the Navy. I took tests and physicals and all kinds of things and then the Navy lost all my paper work. At that point I remembered what it was (besides the baggy britches) that I hated about the military in those days...they were sooooo inefficient... so government.
4. I was a dancer in a semi-professional chorus line in the musical "Take Me Along," and a tragedian in "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead."
5. I have to get a new password everytime I write on this blog because I can never remember how to log on or what my password is.
Monday, October 09, 2006
None of that absentee Father stuff
Several times this week, I have been reminded of how my Heavenly Father is so unlike most earthly fathers. We want our kids to grow up. God wants us be always like children. We would sometimes like to find a place to just hide for a while. God, our Father, is always available. He treasures our company, even when we are so unlike him. Jesus said, "Do not hinder the little children from coming... Anyone who comes must come as a little child." We try to teach our kids to be independent. He wants us to know that we are dependent on Him. When we are "finished" we will look exactly like His Son.
Wednesday, October 04, 2006
Efficiency in following Christ
A few observations about the shooting in Nickel Mine, PA:
I only saw one Amish person speak to a microphone. It was a woman who said that the man who killed the little girls was just doing what he had been taught.
The next thing I noticed was the high-powered news folks with no one to talk to...no one to try to draw out some response of misery and hopelessness, because the separation from the world practiced by the Amish is real.
I heard an "expert" on the Amish say that they are very efficient in dealing with evil and good within their own society. Now that is a very flattering statement from the secular media. The only reason I would like to have seen some Amish allow interviews is so the lost world and the secularized followers of Christ could see how efficient dependence on Jesus can be.
In our moving about yesterday, we met a couple of Amish wagons on the Texas highway outside of Beeville. I commented to Judy that they probably did not even know about the meanness that had taken place in Pennsylvania. They were involved in what God had for them to do where they are. How efficient!
Perhaps the world would be more open to hearing the message of Christ if they could see, not how we can make it look like and fit into the popular culture, but how efficiently the Christ-life is regardless of the culture around it.
I only saw one Amish person speak to a microphone. It was a woman who said that the man who killed the little girls was just doing what he had been taught.
The next thing I noticed was the high-powered news folks with no one to talk to...no one to try to draw out some response of misery and hopelessness, because the separation from the world practiced by the Amish is real.
I heard an "expert" on the Amish say that they are very efficient in dealing with evil and good within their own society. Now that is a very flattering statement from the secular media. The only reason I would like to have seen some Amish allow interviews is so the lost world and the secularized followers of Christ could see how efficient dependence on Jesus can be.
In our moving about yesterday, we met a couple of Amish wagons on the Texas highway outside of Beeville. I commented to Judy that they probably did not even know about the meanness that had taken place in Pennsylvania. They were involved in what God had for them to do where they are. How efficient!
Perhaps the world would be more open to hearing the message of Christ if they could see, not how we can make it look like and fit into the popular culture, but how efficiently the Christ-life is regardless of the culture around it.
Tuesday, October 03, 2006
Sunday, August 06, 2006
Assigning myself homework
What have I done? I have not updated this blog because I have a full and meaningful life; the kind of life that I hoped I would have back when I was in school. Of course, when one is in school he can have practically no life (especially if he has female teachers) because he is constantly doing "required work" to get a passing grade so that someday he can have that perfect life that comes with a proper education. I say "especially if he has female teachers" because it seemed that at whatever level, whether high school, university, or post graduate, a female teacher/professor's life was her course. I always had more reading and writing from the lady educators than from the men (unless they were effeminate men).
And now look at me. I have taken on a blog that really should be updated if it is going to exist. I have given myself homework - right here in the midst of the perfect life for which I was properly educated. Dang! Well, I have heard people say that things seldom turn out the way you expect them to. So, there you go.
And now look at me. I have taken on a blog that really should be updated if it is going to exist. I have given myself homework - right here in the midst of the perfect life for which I was properly educated. Dang! Well, I have heard people say that things seldom turn out the way you expect them to. So, there you go.
Thursday, June 29, 2006
If God is not gracious enough
If I get to judgement and find that God is not as gracious as I thought He was, I certainly hope that I find He is not as holy as I think He is. Because, there has never been a day, or for that matter an hour, when I have looked back and seen that I had lived perfectly God-honoring and holy for that period of time.
If God is not totally gracious and merciful...If the blood of Jesus does not cover each of my sins, confessed or unconfessed...If my faith in Jesus is not enough to have saved me and to keep me...If God grades on the curve, or if there is a sliding scale...Let me be in a group of sluggard at the throne.
Hebrews 7:25
If God is not totally gracious and merciful...If the blood of Jesus does not cover each of my sins, confessed or unconfessed...If my faith in Jesus is not enough to have saved me and to keep me...If God grades on the curve, or if there is a sliding scale...Let me be in a group of sluggard at the throne.
Hebrews 7:25
Wednesday, June 28, 2006
A Whirl
What? No Comic Sans? I always write in Comic Sans. I have had a thought from time to time about what could be on a blog. Now I will give it a whirl. I hope something profound eventually occurs to me. Today is "set-up" day. Perhaps tomorrow profundity.
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