If you live long enough...

If you live long enough you will see and experience such great differences and contrasts in life as to almost be unimaginable.  For instance, I learned to drive 50 years after the invention of the Model T Ford and there were still some around.  My cousin taught me to start and drive his and I would occasionally borrow it for a date on a pleasant day.  You set the accelerator with your hands, you shifted gears with your feet.  You sat on top of the gas tank and at steep hills you had to go up backward because if you didn't the gas tank was down hill of the engine and the gas would not run uphill to it.  Now, almost 50 years later, there are cars that brake for themselves, stay in their lanes by themselves, have back up cameras, park themselves, start at the touch of a button, have on board electronics for every imaginable purpose.  In both cases the purpose of the car is to take you from point A to point B.

In a different vane, I've lived in the "Bible Belt" at a time when religion was taught in public schools, when many holidays were considered Holy-days, and no self-respecting business man was open on Sundays.  Then I moved to the North, den of iniquity that it is.  In the years since, "Blue Laws" were abolished and businesses could open on Sundays.  Now this includes liquor stores and bars which was not always the case.  Religion, even prayer, is not allowed in schools.  Holy-days have become economic juggernauts in their focus.  This year businesses opened on Thanksgiving and not just the restaurants.  Some folks say the economy 'demands' these changes.

Demand or not the picture is clear.  Jesus taught his followers (in Matthew and Luke) that when your society is like that of Noah's the "end is near".  Genesis says that the society in Noah's time became so bad it made God shake His head and wonder why He had even made mankind.  I can imagine Him shaking His head again and reaching to pull the plug.  If that's the case, I will have lived long enough, like Simeon, to see the promise of the Lord and to have ultimately seen the reward of His saints.  It's amazing the things you see if you live long enough.

Back Yonder

WHEN I WAS A BOY

Ah! oft in my thoughts do I wander

Away to the dear forest, home,

Far off in the pine-covered mountains,

Where the cabin stood silent and lone;

And I think, with a heartache pathetic,

Of the home circle, rustic and fair,

That there, ‘mid the wildest surroundings,

Dwelt cozy, contented, and poor.

‘T was a paradise, now as I see it ….

So in thought I go back to that cabin,

That clearing, that forest, that farm

Where father and mother and children

Dwelt contented—oblivious of harm.

And as memory retouches the picture,

And contrasts it with life of to-day—

With the hurry, the rush, and the clatter.

On the road thus far down life’s way.

My heart often yearns for the quiet.

The peace, the contentment, the joy

Of the life that I lived in that cabin

Back yonder when I was a boy.

     (Isaiah Kephart, September 1899)

The Sower went forth to sow

In recent weeks I found out that my Pastor is going to leave our church, following the leading of the Lord.  In the weeks since it has been determined that the fledgling church can not survive the transition and will close by the end of the year.  Hearts are broken.  People are disappointed.  Many wonder how this could happen.  Wasn't the Lord in the original call to plant this church?  How could He let this happen?

In tossing this all around this week I was prompted to consider the following parable of the sower.  Jesus taught us about the sower (Matthew 13, Mark 4 and Luke 8) who went out to sow seed.  Some fell on the path and was eaten by birds.  Some fell on hard ground and sprang up but died early.  Some fell in weeds and were choked out by them.  Other seed fell on good ground and produced "30, 60 even a 100 fold increase".

While we often get hung up on the increase 2 facts remain:  The key is that the sower went out to sow.  Without that nothing happens and the 2nd is almost as important but often overlooked;  The sower knew where he was sowing the seed.

Seed falling on the path or weeds or the rocky ground didn't surprise the sower.  He knew where he was sowing seed.  He knew the risks.  But to not sow seed in those areas was to restrict the opportunity.  And the opportunity is to all who will believe.

Perhaps our little church was on hard ground or in the weeds.  Regardless, salvation sprouted in the hearts of many in its short 4 year history and all those who shared in the ministry there were changed forever.  But it could not have happened had the Lord, our Sower, not gone out to sow seed.

Which scripture to use?

Jesus taught us to go to a brother that has a grievance against me and He taught us to go to a brother we have been offended by, in both cases to "work it out".  In either case He meant for it to be done quickly before the smoldering problem could catch fire.

I don't know how you react in these situations but I generally drag my feet, recite scripture in my mind that fortifies my point, then lose sleep.  A situation that occurred to me yesterday was playing in wide screen in my mind at midnight and would not let me sleep.  Finally I got out of bed and went to the family room to "unwind".  Unwinding consisted of recognizing that while I had been hurt "my brother" probably didn't realize it.  "Unwinding" kept saying, 'you didn't ask the right question/s, you weren't clear'.  It also recognized that my 'brother' had information he didn't share.  Could have, should have, even perhaps would have if I had made the effort to discuss fully the situation and he had responded fully.  In the end I had said no more than necessary and his response was the same, no more than necessary.  So as the result of our 'economizing' our words and thoughts I'm losing sleep because I'm hurt and even a bit embarrassed at the situation and I can only imagine that he is sleeping like a baby.  When I'm able to release the emotion that is stirring this pot I, too, am finally off to sleep.


Now, another day has come, the situation remains and I'm thinking of how I can resolve the feelings I'm having.  How can I broach the subject with my 'brother', come to a resolution and model Christ in the process?  What I want to model is platting a whip and driving the offender out.  Unfortunately (in my mind) resolution doesn't warrant that type of response.  Jesus was able to spend time with 'sinners' like Zacchaeus and treat them so purely that they jumped at a chance to make things right.  I must be as pure in sharing my problem with my brother and be willing to leave the result in God's hands.  After all, that is the point. 

  

Oohh, what a hangover

It's the morning after and I have such a hangover.  I latched onto the election coverage around 10:00pm last night and guzzled until almost midnight.  Then started again a little after 6:00 this morning.  It finally lured me into a dull inebriation nearing despair.

I'm American born and American bred, and when I die I'll be American dead and I believe and endorse the structure of government set forth by the founding fathers, a representative democracy.  Unfortunately I haven't been represented in either the US government nor the Maryland government for years.  Redistricting has made it impossible for me to be accurately or even vaguely represented because I'm lumped into a largely urban population.  The politicians elected by that group don't represent me at all.

I find myself relating more and more with the Jewish Christians of the first century church politically speaking.  They were governed by the Romans who basically ignored their culture as long as they paid their taxes and didn't make waves.  Their 'representatives' learned to play the game with the Romans to their personal benefit.  It's obvious from the way the various trials of Jesus, Peter and Paul were conducted that the Jewish leadership was very familiar with the 'good ol' boy' system as well as political 'winks and nods'.

The Christians of that era were certainly without political representation and they went on to change their world one witness at a time.  Sounds like a grassroots movement to me.  As I begin to recover from my stupor I'm reminded that God establishes governments and often uses them to push, pull or otherwise move His people.  And, I realize that it's not about an elected official representing me but about me representing my leader, the Lord Jesus Christ, like a star shining in the dark night of humanistic self aggrandizement  that surrounds me.

Ancient prophesy still speaks

Jeremiah was a bold, and extremely obedient, prophet for God Almighty in hard national and political times.  While reading in the book that bears his name this morning I read a portion of ancient history that reads like current events.  The Message version relates it this way:

(Jeremiah 36:22-26) The king (President) was sitting in his winter quarters in front of a charcoal fire. After (the Communications Director) would read three or four columns (of God's warning to the nation), the king would cut them off the scroll with his pocketknife and throw them in the fire. He continued in this way until the entire scroll had been burned up in the fire.  Neither the President nor any of his officials showed the slightest twinge of conscience as they listened to the messages read. The Republicans tried to convince the President not to burn the scroll, but he brushed them off. He just plowed ahead and ordered Biden. Pelosi  and Reed to arrest Jeremiah the prophet and his secretary Baruch. (editorial paraphrasing is mine, apologies to the Message.)

You can burn the message, deny the message, ignore the message or blame the message on your enemies but in the end God will not be denied His plan.