Category Archives: Faith

It was a feat like no other ever achieved in the history of the world.

Only once had it even been attempted – in 1960.

Felix Baumgartner, a 43-year old former paratrooper from Austria, decided that he would travel above the earth in a capsule, under a balloon. Wearing a special suit, Baumgartner would jump out of the capsule and fall back to earth.

He would jump from 24 miles up. It would be the highest manned balloon flight ever.

Why would anyone do this?

Baumgartner wanted to see if he could break the sound barrier. It would just be him, alone, falling through the sky. NASA, anxious to make improvements on its “space-wear”, also wanted to see how his suit held up. So on a Sunday, up went Felix. Eight million people worldwide tuned in via the internet (by way of cameras mounted on the capsule) to see him jump.

When the capsule reached an altitude of 128,100 feet, Felix went to the doorway, gave a thumbs-up, and jumped into the inky blackness of the stratosphere. Baumgartner reached a speed of 833.9 miles an hour on his way down. He broke the sound barrier, becoming the first human to reach supersonic speed without the added benefit of a jet or spacecraft.

Amazingly, Felix Baumgartner, parachuting in, landed on his feet in the dessert near Roswell, New Mexico. After falling to his knees and lifting his arms in victory, Baumgartner spoke of his extraordinary experience.

“When I was standing there on top of the world,” he said, “you become so humble, you do not think about breaking records anymore, you do not think about gaining scientific data. The only thing you want is to come back alive.”

Perspective helps us focus on the important things in life.

Then Felix smiled and told the reporters:

“Sometimes we have to get really high to see how small we are.”

Perspective also gives us a new attitude – a new way of seeing ourselves and the world around us.

I’m guessing that Felix Baumgartner saw what we saw through the camera when he stepped to the open doorway of that capsule in space. It was the earth, round, blue and beautiful; and, yes, incredibly, awesomely majestic.

Getting a glimpse of the cosmos, we suddenly realize how insignificant we truly are.

Yes, altitude changes attitude.

The universe has that effect.

Appreciating its surreal vastness reminds us of our mortal limitations. It reminds us, too, of the infinite greatness of our Creator. To see what Felix Baumgartner saw that Sunday is to see our world and to see ourselves as God sees us.

It is to capture – for an imperfect instant – something of the divine perspective. It is to step back and see ourselves, not for what and who we think we are in all our foolish strivings and vain ambitions – but rather to see ourselves for what God knows us to be in the truth of his sovereign reality.

“For he knows how weak we are; he remembers we are only dust.” (Psalm 103: 14, NLT).

Few things are as healthy as getting in touch with our own mortality and the fragile fallibilities of our nature.

God watches the people of the earth scurrying about as ants seeking dominance on a small mound of dirt and he smiles the omnipotent smile of a beneficent Maker. From where God sits – from the heavenly throne on which he rules – “all the nations of the world are but a drop in the bucket. They are nothing more than dust on the scales. He picks up the whole earth as though it were a grain of sand.” (Isaiah 40: 15, NLT).

This is the way God sees us. This is the divine perspective.

“How small we are … you become so humble.”

In a few days, many will wring their hands over the outcome of a national election that didn’t go their way. We’ll forget for a moment that to the Lord God of the universe, “all nations before him are as nothing; they are counted to him less than nothing, and vanity.” (Isaiah 40: 17, KJV).

The psalmist knew.

“When I consider thy heaven, the work of thy fingers, the moon and stars, which thou hast ordained; what is man, that thou art mindful of him?” (Psalm 8:3-4, KJV).

Only a God of unconquerable mercy and grace could display so great a love upon so infinitesimal a creature as man. We may be eternally grateful that something more than God’s glory ascends to the heavens. God “does not deal harshly with us as we deserve. For his unfailing love toward those who fear him is as great as the height of the heavens above the earth.” (Psalm 103: 10, 11, NLT).

Few of us will ever see the earth from 24 miles up. Yet we should still seek a perspective of God and ourselves that reflects a true appreciation of both.

“Put them in fear, O Lord; that the nations may know themselves to be but men.” (Psalm 9: 20, KJV).

God help us to “see how small we are.”

His dad ran a hardware store in the small town of Indiana, Pennsylvania.

When war broke out in Europe young Jim was eager to enlist. Even though Pearl Harbor was months away, he knew he had to do something.

Jim was 32 and had already earned a degree in architecture from Princeton. He talked with his dad, himself a veteran of the Spanish American War and World War I.

The father understood – they had come from a long line of soldiers and patriots. He didn’t try to talk Jim out of it.

When he flunked his physical because at 6’ 3” and 138 pounds he was five pounds under the weight requirement, Jim went home and ate everything in sight. Even then, he had to have a friend tip the scales in order to make it.

On the day Jim shipped out for the Air Force as a B-24 bomber pilot, his dad, a staunch Presbyterian, quietly slipped a note and another piece of paper into Jim’s uniform pocket.

After he left home, he opened the note from his dad:

“My dear Jim-Boy, soon after you read this letter, you will be on your way to the worst of danger. Jim, I am banking on the enclosed copy of the 91st Psalm. The thing that takes the place of fear and worry is the promise of these words. I feel sure that God will lead you through this mad experience. I can say no more. I only continue to pray. Goodbye, my dear. God continue to bless and keep you. I love you more than I can tell you. Dad”

Jim read the psalm.

“He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress; my God; in him will I trust.” (Psalm 91: 1-2, KJV).

These beautiful words, rendered more so in the King James Version, are among the most beloved and familiar found in the scriptures. They have comforted millions for centuries. Jim found comfort in them now – and in his dad’s love and prayers.

“Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler”, the psalmist writes, “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” (verses 3- 4).

Throughout these 16 verses are found strong encouragement and confidence for every man, woman and child who places his full trust in the Almighty God. It is the most glorious song of Divine protection and security in the Bible. It is bold and unequivocal in its declarations.

We find no hedging qualifiers anywhere in this great psalm.

You may be surrounded by terror at night and dodging fiery arrows by day. Yet even with danger all around you, “thou shalt not be afraid” (verse 5). Though thousands may fall to the right and left of you, “it shall not come nigh thee” (verse 7).

Why?

“Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation” (verse 9).

In the daily spiritual wars of our souls and our lives and in the wars of our world, El Shaddai, the Almighty God Who sustains and protects, will protect and sustain you and me.

No matter what we’re facing.

No matter how terrifying the foe or frightening the crisis, the God Who protects “shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone” (verses 11-12).

At God’s command you and I are supported by the angels of heaven.

Jim carefully folded the psalm up and placed it back in his pocket.

Through 20 combat missions in some of the fiercest fighting the world had ever known, Jim carried that 91st Psalm with him. When the war was over, he had earned six battle stars, the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Air Medal and the Croix de Guerre with Palm.

He was uninjured.

Reflecting on his war experience years later, Jim said of the Psalm:

“What a promise for an airman. I placed in His hands the squadron I would be leading. And, as the psalmist promised, I felt myself borne up.”

After the war, Jim served in the Air Force Reserve, rising to the rank of Brigadier General. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal in 1968 and in 1985 President Ronald Reagan presented him with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

The irony of it all is that Jim Stewart didn’t need to serve in World War II. He had already been nominated for an Academy Award in 1939 for Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and won it in 1940 for his role in The Philadelphia Story. 

America and the world will always remember James Stewart. He never referred to himself as Jimmy, but we did and always will. When he died at the age of 89, the President of the United States hailed him as “a national treasure … a great actor, a gentleman and a patriot.”

On Jimmy Stewart’s gravestone are carved these words:

“For He shall give his angels charge over thee to keep thee in all thy ways”.

Tona Herndon had every right to be angry.

She had every right to be offended.

Tona had been violated – shamelessly, unexpectedly and unconscionably violated.

There she was in the small town of Bethany, Oklahoma visiting her husband’s grave. Suddenly, without warning, a man had grabbed her pocketbook and run away.

Tona Herndon had been robbed – in a cemetery, while paying her respects to her dead husband.

If anything good could come from that incident, it’s pretty elusive.

Christian Lunsford didn’t know Tona Herndon or what had happened to her. He might have been a bit suspicious when his father, Shane, had presented him with a surprise gift of $250. Especially since his dad is an ex-con.

The 15 year-old boy might have wondered – or not.

Then Shane got arrested and charged with the crime. It broke Christian’s young heart but didn’t exactly shock him. Christian loved his dad. He also knew him.

At this point in the story you might be tempted to ask: “So what did the boy do? After all, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree”. True enough, but someone named this lad “Christian” for a reason.

He contacted Tona Herndon and arranged to meet her. The teen apologized for what his dad did. Then he reached into his pocket, pulled out the $250 and handed it to Herndon. She was surprised and moved.

She thanked Christian and took the money. Then she handed it back to him.

“He gave and I received,” she said later, “and I gave and he received”.

Tona Herndon smiled. “So it worked out”.

When he led Prison Fellowship, Chuck Colson was a strong advocate for criminal restitution, arguing persuasively that it was practiced in the Old Testament under the Hebrew system of justice. Colson believed that bringing the offender face to face with his victim was the first – and most important – step toward true justice; what he called restorative justice.

The ultimate objective of biblical justice is reconciliation – shalom – peace.

In the case of Christian Lansford and Tona Herndon, a young man intervened on behalf of another whom he loved. Though he had done no wrong, Christian pursued forgiveness and reconciliation in the place of his father and on his behalf.

Tona would have been within her rights to keep the money as at least a partial payment for what had been done to her. After all, the money was hers. She had been assaulted by a robber.

This was only just.

Instead, Tona responded not with justice but with mercy and kindness. She had received the payment. She was satisfied. Then she generously returned it to the son of her offender.

This was an act of grace.

It was an expression of forgiveness; it was a symbol of reconciliation.

It has been well said that in God’s economy, justice is getting what we deserve, mercy is not getting what we deserve, and grace is getting what we don’t deserve. If we all realized this more, we’d be less judgmental of others and more grateful for God’s patience with us.

We’d be less harsh in our condemnations and more honest in our confessions.

On the cross, Jesus intervened on our behalf. He did so because of his love – and his Father’s. We were the ones who had sinned. We were the ones who had so grievously violated God’s law and his justice and holiness. Jesus had done nothing wrong but he stood in our place and paid the price we owed.

This was death. It’s what we deserved.

God responded by forgiving us, cleansing us and saving us – and by giving us eternal life.

This was grace. It’s what we didn’t deserve.

Paul explained it to the Romans:

“Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us” (Romans 5: 1, NLT, emphasis added).

Jesus did this “for us”.

God was merciful. We didn’t get what we deserved.

He did this for you and for me, in all of our presumption, and all of our arrogance; in all of our self-congratulatory self-righteousness – in all of our hopeless and pitiful “filthy rags”.

Yet, “because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand …” (verse 2, NLT, emphasis added).

The King James Version states it in simple eloquence:

“By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand …”

By God’s grace we stand. By his grace we live. By his grace we are forgiven. By God’s grace – and by his grace alone – “we rejoice in hope of the glory of God” (verse 2, KJV).

Without this grace we would have no joy. We would have no hope. Without it we would perish.

You and I have been reconciled to God – the chosen recipients of his matchless and amazing grace. How much now should we, just like Tona Herndon, be the dispensers of grace to those around us?

He gave and we have received. We must give that others may receive.

When we do, we’ll discover that “it works out”.

It all began with a poem.

Lynda Frederick, who lives in New York, wrote it and posted it on her old high school’s Facebook page. The poem spoke of Lynda’s sad and tormented experiences being bullied by her classmates.

She also wanted everyone to know that life had gotten a whole lot better for her over the intervening 25 years.

Lynda wasn’t prepared for what happened next.

Her Facebook post was flooded with heartfelt apologies from her onetime bullies. They begged her for the chance to make the past right. And they did more than that. They also raised $800 in order to bring her to California for a class reunion.

Moved by the reach for reconciliation, Lynda was reflective. “We can’t fix yesterday,” she observed, “but we can try to fix today.”

While the past cannot be undone, it can be redressed.

Reconciliation begins with forgiveness – that sweetest and most profound of virtues.

In his model prayer, Jesus urges us to seek God’s forgiveness for our offences and in the same manner to extend forgiveness to those who have offended us. Jesus goes so far as to assert that God will not forgive us if we refuse to forgive others. [Matthew 6:15].

Neither Jacob nor his brother Esau could “fix” the many years of deceit, treachery and rivalry that had marred their relationship. What was done was done. But when they finally met again, “Esau ran to meet [Jacob], threw his arms around his neck, and kissed him. And they both wept” [Genesis 33:4, NLT].

The tears of forgiveness melted away the frozen bitterness of wounded pride and lost opportunities.

His brothers feared his power to retaliate, but Joseph was overcome by a deep and compassionate forgiveness for them. He was led by a love that never died despite the long separation caused by their betrayal. Nothing in his fascinating and eventful life tells us more about Joseph’s abiding character than his willingness to forgive his brothers for what they did to him.

How could Jesus ever forgive that disciple who had pledged loyalty to the death and then in the crisis denied three times he even knew the Savior? There is hope for each of us in those moving and powerful words of the angel:

“But go, tell his disciples, even Peter, that he is going ahead of you into Galilee. You will see him there, just as he told you” (Mark 16:7, NET, emphasis added).

Yes, even Peter – even you and even me.

Forgiveness is the sincerest form of love.

It’s often the costliest and most difficult. But an unforgiving spirit has no place in the believer’s life. It is flagrantly unhealthy. Holding a grudge is not only a sub-Christian attitude – it’s an emotional grind.

Over time, such poison in your system will weaken your spiritual constitution and make you vulnerable to other diseases of the soul such as vengeance, gossip and envy.

An unforgiving spirit is a moral and spiritual cancer. It may begin small and undetected, but it grows inexorably and spreads until it has consumed the heart with cynicism and malice. Only when unforgiveness is cut away by the scalpel of God’s grace and transplanted with genuine, Christ-centered forgiveness can new life breathe into the soul. Only then can love be rekindled, hope renewed and joy restored.

This is why Jesus ties forgiveness to the very heart of worship.

“So if you are presenting a sacrifice at the altar in the Temple,” he says, “and you suddenly remember that someone has something against you, leave your sacrifice there at the altar. Go and be reconciled to that person. Then come and offer your sacrifice to God.” [Mathew 5: 23-24, NLT].

We must put first things first.

Jesus tells us that the first order of spiritual business for each of us is forgiveness and reconciliation. Even if we are already sitting in the church pew and about to drop our offering in the plate, if we recall the slight that hurt, we must stop and go and seek forgiveness.

Reconciliation precedes worship and authentic worship is conditioned upon forgiveness – and virtually impossible without it.

Paul tells the Ephesians to flush the bad attitudes and rotten behavior out of their lives. “Instead, be kind to each other, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you.” [Ephesians 4: 32, NLT].

For Lynda Frederick, it was a poem that led to forgiveness, reconciliation and a new lease on life she hadn’t expected.

Perhaps the past was gone and forever shrouded in regrets. But Lynda’s old classmates proved that seeking, offering and finding forgiveness can turn a class reunion into something far grander and more lasting than the petty cruelties of a high school hallway.

Forgiveness – what a beautiful thing.