November 21, 2014 · 4:01 am

Showing Us the Way

It nearly cost Edward Rosenthal his life.

Rosenthal, 64, was hiking in Joshua National Park in southeastern California when he simply took the wrong turn. It’s easy enough to do, and who among us hasn’t done it?

We all get lost sometimes.

In Mr. Rosenthal’s case, it was a near-fatal mistake. He hiked 13 miles in the wrong direction. When he finally stopped and realized his error, Rosenthal was alone and lost, with no way out and no one to hear his cries for help. After six hopeless days, he was finally found by rescue workers, weak and dehydrated.

When Edward Rosenthal made that fateful wrong turn along the hiking trail, he was probably pretty confident it would lead him out to the right place. It seemed the right way to go at the time. No one intentionally tries to get lost, especially if they’re in the wilderness hiking.

Getting lost is an accident.

Despite our best intuition and judgment – our best logic and reasoning – we still can make the wrong choice and we can go in the wrong direction. For Mr. Rosenthal, as in some of life’s critical decisions, the stakes were high. And there are plenty of times in our lives – especially at those crucial junctures – when simply relying on our own intuition isn’t good enough.

“There is a way that seems right to a man,” the Bible tells us, “but it ends in death.” (Proverbs 14:12, emphasis added).

The prophet Jeremiah prayed “I know, Lord, that our lives are not our own. We are not able to plan our own course.” (Jeremiah 10:23, NLT).

When we try we find it is not within our power.

“I claim not to have controlled events,” Lincoln confided to a friend in the dark days of the Civil War, “but confess plainly that events have controlled me.” One of the president’s favorite quotes was from Shakespeare:

“There is a divinity that shapes our ends, rough hew them how we will.”

That “divinity” is our Sovereign God.

The Book of Proverbs offers wise counsel when it comes to finding our way and choosing the right road.

“Trust in the Lord with all thine heart,” we’re told, “and lean not unto thine own understanding” (Proverbs 3:5, KJV).

Godly decision-making starts with godly trust. It begins with a confidence that God loves us and will lead us. This is what he has promised to do. It is up to us to believe it. We’re not to be indecisive on this matter or half-hearted. We must trust God with all our heart – fully and without reservation. No matter what the circumstances or our own feelings.

If we won’t trust God with our lives, we don’t trust him at all.

If we will fully trust him we shall find him fully true. “In all thy ways acknowledge him” – not in some things but in everything, and here is the promise – “and he shall direct thy paths” (Proverbs 3:6, KJV). It does not say God could or that he might; he says that God shall direct us.

The writer goes on and admonishes:

“Be not wise in thine own eyes” (Proverbs 3:7, KJV). For in this is found the ultimate conceit and life’s greatest self-deception. The “best and brightest”, independent of divine guidance, stumble into ruin. The greatest tragedy of the human race has been man’s rebellion against God’s way.

God never ceases to be merciful.

Even if we do take the wrong turn, when we come to that realization, God will still show us the way back. Did not the Good Shepherd leave the 99 sheep safely in the fold so that he might seek that one lost sheep that had wandered away? And he didn’t stop looking until he found it.

God does the same with us. Because he loves us, he seeks us. Because he cares, he leads us back.

Isaiah promised the people of Israel that “The Lord is a faithful God…He will be gracious if you ask for help. He will surely respond to the sound of your cries…he will still be with you to teach you.” [Isaiah 30: 18 -20, NLT].

And God will guide us.

“Your own ears will hear him. Right behind you a voice will say, ‘This is the way you should go,’ whether to the right or the left.” [Isaiah 30: 21, NLT].

This world is not the easiest place in which to make our way. It’s filled with some surprising and often intimidating twists and turns – and critical intersections. Our lives are confronted daily with temptations, sincere advice, and popular appeals that “seem right”.

It can all be quite confusing at times.

But if you and I will place our trust in God and in his love for us, and seek his direction in prayer and through his Word, he has promised never to leave us. He will show us the right turn to take and even when we make a wrong one, he will rescue us and show us the road back.

He loves us that much.

“For this God is our God forever and ever: he will be our guide even unto death” (Psalm 48:14, KJV).

He’s there – always. He will show us the way.

May God bless you and your family.

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November 14, 2014 · 3:11 am

Freedom’s Price

It changed him.

He went from being a confused, mixed up kid to being a seasoned and mature man.

It was a formative experience. He grew up.

The military can have that effect on a young person. It can be relentlessly focusing.

For Casey Morgan, it was the Marines. It was Iraq in the early years of our involvement. It was Afghanistan.

It was the sights and sounds he’d never forget.

Unlike many of his less fortunate comrades, Casey did not emerge from Iraq broken but strengthened. Still, as for all who go, there were the scars and the memories. Those he carries. They are part of him and they will remain.

They are the costs of bearing freedom’s torch.

This week, America saluted Casey Morgan and nearly 22 million of his fellow American veterans. These are the men and women who gave, sacrificed and served. They did so not because they like war but because they cherish liberty and love their country.

And because they know, as all free people must, that freedom is never free.

America was born in strife. It was a costly and difficult war against a distant oppressor that “brought forth on this continent a new nation.”

While our country’s history is hardly unblemished, it may be said that the United States has fought its wars in defense of freedom and justice – not for ourselves alone but for all those who have suffered as victims of tyranny. Ours have not been wars of subjugation but of liberation.

Historians and politicians have always debated the causes and justifications of war but few have questioned the motives or the patriotism of those who have served. Those who wave the anti-war banners, shout the slogans, sing the songs and make the arguments seldom stop to ponder the price that was paid to secure their right to dissent.

There’s nothing about America that’s ever been easy or automatic.

The values, the ideals, the rights and the liberties that most of us are tempted to take for granted were bought with the blood and sacrifice of American soldiers – the living and the dead, the wounded and the whole.

It is only fitting that we celebrate Veterans Day and Thanksgiving during the same month.

When we gather as family and friends around a table of bounty in the greatest and freest nation on earth, we’ll have God to thank. And we can also thank God for the men and women who have served and fought and struggled to make it so; those “who more than self their country loved, and mercy more than life.”

As we once again engage more of our military in fighting terror in the Middle East, it’s easy to lose sight of the enormous toll this conflict – and the war in Afghanistan – have had on our American servicemen and women.

These wars have been waged for many years now – far removed from our immediate danger or deep concern. Our daily lives go untouched by the suffering of so many of our soldiers and their families.

There are not many ticker tape parades for our returning veterans. Instead they often face an anguished adjustment to civilian life. The recent scandal at the Veterans Administration exposed the poor and shabby care our veterans too often receive.

At the end of America’s bloodiest war, Abraham Lincoln underscored our continuing moral obligation “to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow and his orphan.”

We can do no less for those to whom we owe so much.

Twenty-five years ago, the Berlin Wall crumbled into history. Thanks to the resolve and courage of statesmen named Reagan, Thatcher and Pope Paul II, Soviet Communism was defeated and America won the Cold War. These were seminal achievements in the history of the world. But none of this would have been possible without the American military – and the faithful and brave soldiers who comprise it.

Those who proudly wear the uniform of the American armed services are the unsung heroes of American strength and greatness.

The Old Testament is largely the story of military courage and conquest. King David solidified and united the nation of Israel through a strong and loyal army. His men loved him and fought for him and many died for him. David understood and appreciated their sacrifice.

When the King was given animals and materials for burnt offerings to God, he refused the gift. Knowing the true value of those things which matter most, David replied, “I will not present burnt offerings to the Lord my God that have cost me nothing”(II Samuel 24:24, NLT).

So David, who had seen men die on the field of battle, paid a price.

Important things are seldom free. They are seldom easy.

Casey Morgan is a hero of mine.

I would be proud to have him as my son. I am proud to have him as my son-in-law. I’m honored that his blood flows with mine through the veins of my grandchildren. I’m thankful to him for serving our country so bravely and so well.

To all those who joined him – and to the millions who serve today – we salute you.

May God bless you and your family.

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November 7, 2014 · 2:46 am

Open Our Eyes!

The young man stirred in his bed. He thought he heard something out the window.

Fully awake now, he flung open the door and went outside. The morning sun was beginning to glisten over the mountains.

There was an impatient rustling.

The young man looked up and was struck with fear at what he saw. Across the horizon were horses and soldiers and chariots. They were everywhere.

The city of Dothan was surrounded.

There was no escape.

When the youth ran back into the house, the old prophet was already up.

“Oh sir,” he cried, “what will we do now?”

The old man grasped the younger one by the shoulders and looked into his frightened eyes.

“Don’t be afraid,” Elisha calmly told him. “That’s quite an army out there. But listen to what I’m telling you son.”

Elisha smiled at his young servant. “There are more on our side than on theirs!” (II Kings 6: 15-16).

The servant was puzzled. What was the prophet saying? The young man didn’t see anyone else.

That’s because there wasn’t anyone else. Just the two of them – and an advancing army.

Elisha was a military informant. He had been warning the King of Israel about the plans of its enemy, the Arameans. No sooner had the king of Aram conferred with his generals than Elisha would report it to Israel. How Elisha knew, it doesn’t say. But he was, after all, a “man of God.”

Aram’s king ordered a search party to find Elisha and capture him.

And now they had the old man – and the whole city – surrounded.

This was the stark reality of a very desperate situation.

Elisha prayed but not for himself. He prayed for the panic-stricken young man who trembled in fear before him.

“Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see.” (II Kings 6:17, KJV).

And God opened the eyes of the young man. And “when he looked up, he saw that the hillside around Elisha was filled with horses and chariots of fire.” (vs. 17, NLT).

What that must have been like.

For a few dazzling moments this young man gazed upon the unseen glory and flaming power of the Lord God almighty. He was given a rare blessing. The eternal God pulled back for him the curtain of human reality to reveal a far greater reality. And this servant of the man of God caught a glimpse of the wonder and majesty of the One who rules the universe.

He saw beyond sight. He was lifted above the limitations of mere earthly vision to the realms of heavenly vistas. And he knew that there was a grander and more glorious world than this one.

In an instant, an earthbound youth was transported to the limitless beauty of divine omnipotence.

He had to believe. He had no choice. He saw with eyes opened by God himself.

We face the stark reality of our desperate situations – whether they are cultural, political, global or personal – and we often feel surrounded by an army. We are overwhelmed by what we see.

Our prayer must be Elisha’s. He prayed for his servant. We must pray for ourselves.

“O dear Lord, open our eyes, that we may see!”

We are not likely to be shown the reality of God’s power in the same way as this young man was. Thomas threw down the gauntlet of doubt before the feet of his risen Lord. It was a direct challenge. Unless Thomas could see and feel the wounds of Christ he would not believe he had risen.

When he saw, Thomas believed. And Jesus commended him. But Jesus reserved his highest commendation for the rest of us: “Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed” (John 20:29, KJV).

We accept the earthbound definition that “seeing is believing” but we too easily forget the far greater spiritual reality that believing is seeing.

A heavenly army of horses and chariots of fire stand watch over us and over this world. They fill the cosmic hillside. The great spiritual activity beyond our senses is no less real for being invisible to our eyes.

In fact the unseen is the supreme reality.

It is not mere mortal machinations that will determine the eternal destiny of this fallen world – or our immortal souls. The great spiritual conflict that ends with the triumph of King Jesus takes place beyond our sight and sound. Beyond the debates of congress and parliament.

We are part of this struggle, surrounded by it and enlisted in it but we do not see it.

And if any one of us could see heaven for as long as that young man saw those chariots of fire, we’d rush to take the next train out of this world. We wouldn’t want to remain here a moment longer for the beauty of eternity.

To see through the eyes of faith is to see purely and truly – to see realistically. For the Christian that must always be so.

Faith is defined as “the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1).

Paul tells us to focus on the unseen things for they are eternal.

Lord, open our eyes, that we may see.

May God bless you and your family.

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October 31, 2014 · 3:03 am

This Coming Tuesday

She looked exhausted because she was.

It was 8:00AM.

She was dressed in a bathrobe and slippers, her hair was disheveled. The baby had been up a few times through the night – the final time early. Her little girl had demanded breakfast; it was hastily made.

The TV was playing cartoons.

It was the beginning of another day in the life of a young mother.

So the doorbell this early was more than an annoyance. It was an intrusion.

“Excuse me ma’am.” The man at the door was neatly manicured and organized. He held a clipboard and offered a polite smile. “I’m in the neighborhood this morning helping to conduct a public opinion survey. What do you think is the most serious problem facing America today? Is it ignorance or is it apathy?”

The little girl appeared at the doorway, clutching her mother’s bathrobe and staring at the man. The baby sucked on a bottle contentedly in the mother’s arms.

The young woman breathed a gentle sigh.

“I don’t know,” she answered, “and this morning I don’t really care.”

We appreciate the humorous irony and candor of the reply.

“Yes,” we think, “that’s just how I feel sometimes.”

Here we all are in this country – once again – just a few days away from another national election. The airwaves are filled with campaign ads – attacking, bragging and begging.

Most of us are concerned about the direction of our nation – and the unsettled and dangerous state of the world. The President’s approval rating is low – almost as low as Congress.

We don’t like the way things are.

We want change.

We don’t know who can deliver it; we’re not sure anyone can.

Americans are angry with Washington and its repeated failures – and disillusioned.

This is good campaign weather for ignorance and apathy.

Vote?

As someone said, “It only encourages them.”

Millions will stay away from the polls next Tuesday. Don’t you be one of them.

For all her faults – and the weaknesses of her leaders – America remains the greatest, freest and most wonderful nation on earth. And being an American isn’t just some lucky break, it is a continuing responsibility.

In a free land, duty is the greatest privilege of citizenship. And our greatest duty is to vote.

We are able to openly complain; we have the right to speak and criticize and tell others – including the government – what we think because of the vote.

We declared ourselves a free and independent nation because our founders voted to make us so.

We created the greatest form of self-government in the history of the world because the men who bravely fought to make us free voted to keep us that way. The Constitution of the United States came into being through a vote. So did the Bill of Rights.

And the expansions and protections of American freedom came to us through the vote. The Thirteenth Amendment, which abolished slavery, was adopted only after vigorous debate – and a vote.

African-Americans, women and young people gained the right to vote only after others voted to give them that right.

Of all the rights that make us free – and define us as a republic- none matters more than the right – and the sacred duty – to vote.

Of all the acts of citizenship that have shaped our history, raised up our leaders and marked our destiny as a nation, none have played a more important role than voting.

As believers in a transcendent and sovereign God, we do not place our final faith in the efficacy of politics and government. Christians, of all people, should not permit an earthbound attitude to overtake our heavenly hope and rob us of our joy in the midst of national despair.

Our confidence is not in a platform, a candidate, a movement or a party. We do not trust politics to bring us salvation. Nor do we look to government to meet the deepest needs of the soul. Sometimes we have to learn – and re-learn – that lesson the hard way.

The psalmist warns us:

“Don’t put your confidence in powerful people; there is no help for you there…When they breathe their last [reminding us of the fragile mortality of even the greatest leaders], they return to the earth and all their plans die with them….But joyful are those whose hope is in the Lord their God.” [Psalm 146: 3-5, NLT].

Still, the scriptures underscore the importance of good citizenship – and our responsibility to honor government.

“When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice: but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn” (Proverbs 29:2, KJV).

While God governs in the affairs of nations, each of us must do our part in determining that outcome. No one can read Romans 13 without appreciating the importance God places on government and citizenship; on each one of us being accountable for our political freedom.

Every vote counts; every election matters.

And so many of them are so very close.

Not to vote – no matter how we may feel at the moment about our choices – is to sin against the Author of our liberty.

Don’t forget this coming Tuesday.

Who knows, maybe you’ll see that young mother at the polls.

May God bless you and your family.

 

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October 24, 2014 · 11:08 pm

Taking Sides

Who dares to disagree with her?

Annise Parker demands to know.

They will be found out. They may be prosecuted. They will most assuredly be persecuted.

Pastors – ministers of the Gospel – were ordered by legal subpoena to turn over their sermons.

That’s right – their sermons – to the courts for careful inspection.

This didn’t happen in Russia or in North Korea or in Iran.

It happened in Houston, Texas – in the buckle of the Bible Belt. It happened in the land of the free.

It happened in Thomas Jefferson’s America.

Annise Parker, the openly – gay mayor of Houston, couldn’t stand the fact that five pastors in her city have the temerity to oppose a city ordinance, known as “the bathroom ordinance.” This latest step toward legitimizing the bizarre permits transgendered people – those uncertain and/or unhappy about their sexual physiology – to be able to use the restrooms of their choice.

Quite understandably, some Houstonians object to this. Not because they are angry bigots but because they are intelligent people – and because even craziness must have its limits.

 The ministers supported a petition drive to place the ordinance on the ballot so all Houston voters could have their say on this controversy.

That seems fair enough.

City officials questioned some of the petition signatures so the referendum proponents went to court to have the question placed on the local ballot.

Keep in mind that the pastors were not part of this lawsuit.

Instead of questioning the legality of the signatures, city lawyers went after the ministers.

Originally the pastors were ordered to turn over “all speeches, presentations, or sermons related to the Petition, Mayor Annise Parker, homosexuality, or gender identity.”

That’s a wide swath.

Everything they had ever said or written about these subjects would now be scrutinized.

Every jot and tittle.

Unbelievable!

In the face of a very loud public outcry, the city’s lawyers amended their demand.

Now they only want “all speeches or presentations related to” the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance “, or the Petition, prepared by, delivered by, revised by, or approved by” the pastors or in their possession.

Well, that’s a relief!

These deniers of free speech and religious liberty now only want “all speeches or presentations” made by the pastors.

What is a sermon if not a speech and a presentation?

Is this not a distinction without a difference?

The troubling audacity of this demand is rivaled only by its comic imbecility.

Every authentic civil libertarian – including those who are gay or transgendered – should be appalled by this callous and arrogant trampling of the First Amendment.

Every true lover of liberty must be outraged at this naked attempt to intimidate free speech.

And every Christian in this country should be awakened from his complacency, chastened for his ignorance and spirited by his courage.

The Apostle Paul told the Christians living in a wicked and perverse time:

“Watch, stand fast in the faith, be brave, be strong” (I Corinthians 16:13, NKJV).

The Houston Five have done this. Who will join them?

Mayor Parker tweeted that if pastors speak out on questions of morality and seek to influence their direction, then their sermons “are fair game” to the government.

And it’s not just their sermons that are under assault, but – by logical extension – their convictions, their beliefs; their very faith.

It’s hastening sooner than expected, this hour of choosing.

Not only for five pastors in Houston – but for us all.

This incident is not some over-zealous aberration. It’s a precursor.

The powerful movement to redefine morality in America seeks not simply tolerance or acceptance. It has already largely achieved that with breathtaking speed. To salve a guilty conscience – for Nature itself can never rescind its own teaching – these advocates of cultural enlightenment seek approval.

They seek moral parity.

They demand that the rest of us openly renounce our beliefs, admit we’ve been wrong all this time, and apologize.

They will stop at nothing less.

Mayor Parker is the one who owes Houston an apology – and her resignation. Any elected official driven more by a passion for her agenda and a hatred for her adversaries than a respect for the Constitution of the United States is unfit for public office.

The God who stood by the prophet Elijah on Mount Carmel is the God who stands by us. The God who protected Daniel and the three young Hebrews in their quiet civil disobedience is the same God who guides our steps and secures our way.

He will give us the courage and the strength to stand for him.

You and I must first be willing to do that.

When city officials ordered them not to preach Christianity, Peter and John replied “We ought to obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29, KJV).

The implications of this higher allegiance are profound and often costly. The soil of the church has been soaked by the blood of the martyrs.

And today believers in the Middle East have been given a choice: renounce their faith or suffer the sword.

Silent neutrality – and a “cheap grace” – will win us the nodding approval of those who know we pose no threat to their purposes.

God help us to take sides.

May God bless you and your family.

 

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October 17, 2014 · 2:08 am

The Only Way to Live

Tonya Huff sat in a Dallas bar watching the Cowboys beat the Seahawks.

A local reporter asked her if she was afraid.

“I can’t live in fear,” she said matter-of-factly. “That’s not living.”

To Tonya, this close game mattered more.

Ebola?

“If it’s already here,” she told him, “there’s nothing I can do.”

First one and now a second Ebola case in this country – identified here in Dallas – ratcheted up the media attention and consequent public awareness. There is concern but not much alarm – at least not yet and not professed. Ebola came from West Africa to the U.S. without warning or suspicion. The two Americans infected are health care workers – nurses who treated the original victim.

He’s dead.

First ISIS stormed upon the international scene – unimaginably brutal, diabolical and deadly.

Now we’re seeing its medical equivalent. Ebola, as one writer described such virulent contagions, is “the monster in the microscope.”

It systematically attacks the organs. The victim drowns in his own blood.

There are various medical opinions and theories; a plethora of predictions and prescriptions. Typically, the politicians are pontificating and health care experts are counseling.

But no one knows.

Not for sure.

Ebola is the latest in a relentless line of developments that, when taken together, create in the human mind and heart a deepening sense of foreboding about the trajectory of the human condition.

“Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,” wrote the poet Yeats, “The blood-dimmed tide is loosed …”

While “things fall apart”, Americans – insulated from the suffering of the world as few people in history have been – try to remain hopeful.

West Africa – where some predict as many as 10,000 new Ebola cases weekly by December – is, after all, far away.

The black flag of ISIS will never fly on the White House lawn.

Our doctors – the most brilliant and advanced in the world – will find a vaccine and ultimately a cure for Ebola.

We’ll be OK.

After all, this is America, God’s “almost chosen nation”, as Lincoln memorably put it, and nothing truly bad could ever happen to this exceptional country. There’s some historical truth to that, notwithstanding liberal naysayers.

Yet the judgment of God makes no exceptions for national greatness. Fallen empires bear sober warning to that truth.

The psalmist asks God to “let the nations be judged in your sight. Put them in fear, O Lord, that the nations may know themselves to be but men” (Psalm 9:19-20, NKJV, emphasis added).

ISIS and Ebola remind us of the limits of our power and the fact of our mortality.

We hear the inane question once again. Did God cause this? Though unanswerable and irrelevant, it persists in every catastrophe. We wait expectantly for someone to explain the mysteries and purposes of the Almighty.

One might as well seek to know the shape of yellow.

The most important question Christians should ask is not what is God doing, but what does he want us to do?

Tonya Huff is right about one thing:

Living in fear is “not living.”

Jesus told us that as the curtain of history descended the nations would be in “distress” and in “perplexity.” (Luke 21:25, KJV). He said men’s hearts would fail them for fear in the midst of global reeling.

Yet the Bible commands us in so many places – practically on every page – not to be afraid.

“Fear not” is arguably one of the most frequent refrains throughout scripture, along with “believe.”

Why is this?

First, because God knows us. He understands that fear is a natural emotion. Fear is primal.

Secondly, because the darkest hours are just before dawn. In this present darkness, as fear spreads its insidious tentacles around the globe, fulfilling ancient prophesy, the Christian is to remember our Lord’s command.

Especially now.

“Fear not!”

This is not the self-conscious urging of some insecure and impotent deity conjured up by superstitious imagination.

This is the joyously confident battle cry of our cosmic Commander in Chief. He shall one day ride triumphant upon a white charger, leading his heavenly hosts to glorious victory against all the arrayed forces of pure evil.

His name is Faithful and True.

The God who tells us not to be afraid is the same God to whom “the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance … all nations before him are nothing … and vanity” (Isaiah 40: 15, 17, KJV).

This is power. This is victory. This is hope. This is confidence.

This is ultimate and final reality.

This is God.

When the dark days come, he will whisper to your trembling heart: “Trust me, I’ve got this covered.”

What matters is not what in the world God’s doing. Stop trying to figure that out. What matters is trusting him to take care of you.

Sometimes that’s not easy, admittedly.

But it’s still what matters most.

“God is our refuge and strength … therefore we will not fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the sea” (Psalm 46: 2, NKJV).

Trust him. It’s the only way to live.

May God bless you and your family.

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October 10, 2014 · 12:53 am

An Empty Bucket

Weariness brought them together.

The searing noontime heat made the dry and dusty road a walk of endurance.

The man stopped at the well and sat down. He was alone. His companions had gone ahead to the local market to buy food.

He was tired and thirsty. It was good to rest.

Soon, a woman came along carrying a water bucket. She could have come earlier in the day, when it was cooler, but the women of Sychar knew her and she’d rather face the heat of the day than the glances and snickers of their scorn.

They detested her. She knew it. And she knew why and she didn’t entirely blame them. It came with the territory of being who – and what – she was. To deny that would be to wallow in self-pity and that’s something she would not do. She would cling at least to that shred of dignity.

The man looked up at her, lifting his hand to his eyes for shade.

They were both thirsty but she had the bucket.

He smiled.

Then he asked her for a drink.

The simple request triggered a profound awareness.

And some surprise.

“How is it,” the woman marveled, “that you, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” (John 4:9, NKJV, emphasis added)

Somehow – we know not how – she knew he was a Jew. Jews didn’t have anything to do with “half-breed” Samaritans. And men didn’t have much regard for women.

When was the last time a man treated her with kindness – or respect? Not that morning when she got out of bed. And Jews regarded Samaritans with nothing but contempt.

No wonder this woman was surprised that Jesus would speak to her – and with such goodness in his voice.

Yes, he was different – very different.

And so began the dialogue most believers are familiar with.

The woman at the well understood the water literally. Jesus spoke of living springs gushing within the soul and leading to eternal life.

Then the conversation got personal.

When the woman asked Jesus for “this water, that I thirst not”, he told her to go get her husband.

She told him she had no husband. Perhaps she felt a painful sadness mixed with bitter remorse.

Jesus was getting close. Too close, she thought.

You’re right about that, Jesus replied. “The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband.” (John 4: 18, NIV).

Jesus knew her. And soon she would know him.

Before this conversation was over, Jesus revealed his identity as the Messiah. And this woman – tattered and torn by life and her own miserable choices – believed.

And it says she left her water bucket.

Suddenly the well and the water didn’t matter anymore. What mattered is that this man knew all about her and still spoke words of kindness.

For her it was a miracle.

That’s what she told the villagers when she went running back to town. “Come see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is this not the Christ?” (John 4:29, KJV).

The woman had nurtured her guilty despair for years, hidden in the deep recesses of her broken heart. But Jesus saw her – not only as she was but for what she would become. His love healed her heart, set her free and saved her soul.

Her joyful testimony transformed her community – many believed.

But before she could love the Savior, this woman discovered how much he loved her. She had to know that first.

My friend Carlos Espinoza and I were recently discussing the command to love God. Jesus tells us it is the greatest commandment. The people of Israel were told to love the Lord their God with all their heart and with all their soul and with all their might (Deuteronomy 6:5). Jesus included our minds – and our neighbors.

Carlos and I agreed that we cannot love God like that – we cannot obey this greatest commandment – until first we are changed by God’s love for us. God is the Initiator of love and we are its receivers. And only after you and I have experienced God’s love for us – full, glorious and unconditional – can we begin to truly love God. Only then can we begin to keep the greatest commandment.

Only when Peter realized how much Jesus loved him – even after that horrible night of denials – did Peter love Christ enough to follow him to the cross.

David knew this experience too – and wrote beautiful songs about it. His own love was enriched by the love and forgiveness of God.

The hardened heart that has not yet known God’s love cannot love. But the heart touched by the love of God knows the joy of true love and it shows.

It is the love of God that makes it possible for us to accept and love ourselves, rightly and as we are, and then to love others as we ought.

“We love him because he first loved us” (I John 4:19, KJV).

An empty water bucket by a well reminds us.

May God bless you and your family.

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October 3, 2014 · 1:53 am

The Devil’s Own Day

The small bearded man sat under a tree.

He was dressed in rumpled dark clothes, chewing on a cigar. He seemed calm, oblivious to the shouts and screams of the men around him. He was looking down, his broad-rim hat concealing part of his weathered face and the expressionless stoicism of his clear dark-gray eyes.

He was solitary even in a crowd.

At one point, Brigadier General William T. Sherman approached his friend.

“Well, Grant, we’ve had the devil’s own day, haven’t we?”

Ulysses S. Grant, no stranger to adversity, failure and the struggles of demon drink, had known such days before. Disturbingly, all that seemed to arouse him was war. When some complained of his drinking, his Commander-in-Chief gave a brusque reply: “I can’t spare this man – he fights.”

General Grant looked up at Sherman.

“Yes,” he said, “lick ‘em tomorrow though.”

This was the end of day one of the bloodiest battle on the North American continent up to that time.

It was April 6, 1862, at a place along the banks of the Tennessee River called Pittsburg Landing. It would be one of the most significant battles of the Civil War. Historians know it as the Battle of Shiloh.

Confederate troops, 40,000 strong, under the able leadership of General Albert Sydney Johnston, had surprised an unprepared Union force in the morning hours. Spring was in the warm Tennessee air and the men in blue had taken to relaxing and enjoying the lush, pastoral setting of their camp. They knew the Confederates were nearby and might attack, but they had recently turned them back so never expected this assault.

The Northern troops were overwhelmed and routed.

For them, it had been “the devil’s own day” – a day of disastrous defeat.

Grant’s staff was in a panic.

If there was any thought or hope that this war would soon be over, it evaporated in the smoke and fury of Shiloh that day. Discouragement suddenly hung heavy in the once- cheerful air of the beautiful countryside.

Grant did not panic. He did not let defeat or discouragement overtake him. As bad as it was, he looked to tomorrow and to the opportunity of victory.

The Union forces dug in at a hollow point along a road called the “Hornet’s Nest.” The battle line was formed and after fierce fighting – and the arrival of Yankee reinforcements – the Union army was able to hold its ground. There were nearly 24,000 casualties in just two days of conflict.

It would have been a horrendous loss, even in a nation of 340 million. In 1862, it staggered the imagination.

The war wouldn’t end for three more years.

Have you ever experienced days that seemed like “the devil’s own”?

Maybe it started out good but how could you have foreseen what would happen before it was over?

Perhaps it was a day that started bad and only got worse.

You may be living in a series of days that you could only describe as “the devil’s own.”

You remember that long lonely corridor of grief or uncertainty in your life. Perhaps you’re walking it now.

Heartache, loneliness, discouragement, illness, depression, anxiety and temptation: these are just some of the enemies that assault us. Sometimes they come at us quite suddenly and unexpectedly. We’ve just come off a spiritual victory in our lives. We’re on that mountaintop – the news has been good – and then all of a sudden we’re knocked down again.

We’re in a valley of despond.

For the child of God, there are mountains and there are valleys; triumphs and trials; happiness and hardships; joy and grief.

We know victories and defeats.

Like Grant’s soldiers, one minute we’re basking in the warm sunshine of God’s love and provision and the next we’re in the middle of a fierce battle.

In our daily struggle with the world, the flesh and the devil, we make headway. We also suffer setbacks.

But know this: whatever you have gone through or may be going through right now, victory is yours. There is no day that belongs to the devil or his henchmen, no matter how it may seem to you at the moment.

Satan has not a single day he may call his own. He is a defeated enemy.

The clouds may obscure for a time the love and care of the almighty God, but they remain – undiminished by circumstance. You cannot see God but he’s never taken his loving eyes off you.

Each day is the day the Lord has made. For this reason – and this reason alone – you and I may rejoice and be glad for every day of life God gives us.

Good days and bad days, of course, but God rules them all.

“The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord: and he delighteth in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand … I have not seen the righteous forsaken” (Psalm 37:23-24, KJV).

So take courage and strength. Rejoice.

Remember, the devil only seems to have his own day.

Challenges and difficulties?

“Yes, lick ‘em tomorrow though.”

May God bless you and your family.

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September 26, 2014 · 1:12 am

The Best Thing

He and his friends had been traveling most of the day.

The little neatly-kept house appeared along the dusty road as an oasis of good cheer and kind hospitality.

They were glad to be there.

He was warmly welcomed – beloved by the two sisters and their older brother. They considered it an honor and joy to host him. They were his followers.

But soon there was trouble in the kitchen.

Martha was banging pots and pans around and it was clear she wasn’t happy. With some people, you can’t tell if they’re upset – they disguise it pretty well. They may be smoldering on the inside but they’re smiling on the outside.

Martha was not that type.

With Martha, it was pretty easy to tell. What you saw in her is what you got: simple, direct, blunt and very compassionate. Martha had a sharp tongue, an energetic spirit – and a big heart.

You and I know folks like Martha.

She was preparing a meal for Jesus and his disciples. It was a large meal and it would be a nice one, Martha would see to that. It would be work but she’d get it done. And she’d get it done right. She knew this is what Jesus wanted. He and the disciples had to be hungry after all that walking.

Martha would fix a lovely dinner they’d all enjoy.

She was doing this out of devotion to the Lord. She was serving him with a full heart of love and generosity. She was sure Jesus knew this too. He’d appreciate it and let her know.

But she was getting a bit ticked that she was in the kitchen alone.

Her younger sister Mary was in the living room, along with the other men. Jesus was teaching them and Mary “also sat at Jesus’ feet, and heard his word” (Luke 10: 39, KJV).

Mary was “hanging on every word he said” (verse 39, The Message).

A woman didn’t join the men for theological discussions in the parlor, especially if her sister was slaving away – alone – in the kitchen.

It was unheard of.

“What in the world is he thinking? Is he blind? I can’t believe this is happening – and he acts like he doesn’t even notice!”

“I’ve had it!”

Martha was “distracted with all her preparations” (Luke 10:40, NASB, emphasis added).

She was “worrying over the big dinner she was preparing” (NLT, emphasis added).

The Message says she “was pulled away by all she had to do in the kitchen” (emphasis added).

Martha had worked herself up into a frenzy of diligent, heartfelt service.

And the poor woman was about to lose it.

Perspiration gathering on her forehead, sleeves rolled up to her elbows and with a look that would have killed her sister had Jesus not been there, Martha came into the living room and interrupted the Savior.

“Lord,” she raised her voice, “doesn’t it seem unfair to you that my sister just sits here while I do all the work? Tell her to come and help me” (verse 40, NLT).

“Do you not care?” (NASB)

Jesus remains calm. He doesn’t scowl or appear upset that Martha has stormed into the living room, cut him off in anger, and barked an order at him.

Instead he smiles and gently speaks to her.

“Martha, Martha.”

Jesus knew what was going on in the kitchen. He also knew what was going on inside Martha’s heart and mind. He saw the temperature rising with each slam of the pan and each bang of the pot.

But even here there is love – and a lesson.

“You are worried and bothered about so many things,” Jesus told her, “but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her” (verse 41-42, NASB).

Jesus told Martha, so hot and bothered, so “distracted”:

“There is really only one thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it – and it won’t be taken away from her” (NLT, emphasis added).

Have you discovered that one thing – among so many competing things – that one great thing?

Sometimes when we get up in the morning, you and I are, like Martha, distracted, worrying, and we are pulled away. All the “things” we’ve got to do race at us from a hundred different directions.

What we need is a single right priority in our lives. We must recognize and embrace the primacy of the spiritual.

We may commit ourselves to service but first we must commit ourselves to Christ.

We may want to change the world but first we must let God change us.

We are concerned about so many things but the first thing we must do is seek the Kingdom of God and his righteousness.

Paul’s one great ambition was to know Christ and to be changed by him.

You and I must be willing at times to get out of the blaring noise and blistering turmoil of the world’s kitchen and sit serenely at the feet of the Master.

Like Mary, we must first turn our eyes upon Jesus.

Discover this and it will never be taken away from you.

It is the one thing.

It is the best thing.

May God blesss you and your family.

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September 19, 2014 · 1:14 am

Bill Smith Calling

Jim Kuhn had quite a career.

From working as a young campaign advance man, Kuhn did some advancing himself.

He really liked Ronald Reagan and worked for him when Reagan challenged Gerald Ford for the 1976 Republican presidential nomination. Then the Ohio native worked for Reagan again four years later when the former California governor was elected President.

The new president – and more importantly perhaps, the new president’s wife Nancy – really liked Jim Kuhn. And before you could say “win one for the Gipper”, Kuhn found himself working in the White House as Ronald Reagan’s executive assistant.

I came across Kuhn’s personal memoir this summer. Entitled Ronald Reagan in Private, it is a fun read filled with fascinating and often humorous stories about what presidential life was like behind the scenes.

Kuhn writes of the day he was at Camp David with the Reagans and screened a call through the Camp David telephone operator. Kuhn screened all incoming calls – it was an important part of his job.

“We have Bill Smith calling the president,” the operator told Kuhn.

Kuhn knew that this was William French Smith, Reagan’s long-time friend, close advisor and his first Attorney General. The Reagans, of course, called him Bill.

Kuhn put the call through to the president.

That evening, Kuhn was invited to join the president and first lady in their cabin to watch a movie. When the movie ended, President Reagan smiled and said, “I want to tell you about an interesting call I got this afternoon, from a man in North Carolina who wanted to talk to me about education.”

So the president talked with the man about education policy and explained what his administration was doing to encourage excellence in the classroom.

“He liked my ideas,” Reagan said cheerfully. “He gave me some of his thoughts. We talked for a long time.”

Jim Kuhn, however, was less than happy. His feeling was of the suddenly sinking variety.

He asked the president how long he had spoken with this man and Reagan told him about 45 minutes.

“Mr. President,” Kuhn asked somewhat hesitantly, “do you remember his name?”

“Ah …yes,” Reagan answered. “I believe his name was Smith … Bill Smith, it was.”

Bill Smith!

No, not that one, obviously.

Within minutes, Kuhn had privately confirmed the call with both the Camp David and White House switchboards. The man had the public number for the White House, called it, was put through to Camp David and, courtesy of Jim Kuhn, right through to President Ronald Reagan himself.

If Reagan suspected a mix-up, he never let on and professed no regret about having a very pleasant and lengthy conversation with Bill Smith from North Carolina.

Kuhn marveled at Reagan’s grace and also Mr. Smith who, as Kuhn put it, “probably thought it was perfectly normal to pick up the phone, call the White House, and have a 45-minute conversation with the president!”

We know that never happens so it makes for a clever story.

No ordinary American gets that kind of access to the most powerful man on the planet. Truth be told, some of us struggle to gain access to those far less powerful and important than the president. But then I speak as a professional fundraiser, who is just below the IRS on the call-back list.

Why do you suppose it is that we don’t avail ourselves more often of a far greater access?

The One who made this planet – and all the others too – is freely available to speak with us: 24-7.

The Creator and Ruler of the universe awaits your call.

God’s never too busy to speak with you. In fact God wants to hear from you!

You don’t need to leave a message on his voice mail.

You don’t need to schedule an appointment to meet with him.

The sovereign almighty God doesn’t employ some angelic “gatekeeper” to guard his precious time. He has no celestial executive assistant to keep you away from him.

You won’t need to get back to God in another month or two or three. He’ll never answer your prayer by telling you, “You know, this is a pretty busy time for me right now. Middle East is a mess. Why don’t you try praying in February?”

God would never think to ignore your personal email or fail to return your call – even if you had to leave one.

God cares about us – that’s why Peter tells us to cast all our care on him.

He loves you.

God knows how important your need – your request, your fear, your hope, your desire, your question – is to you.

God knows because you’re important to him!

 Abraham, Moses, Elijah and David talked with God – often. To God, you’re not one bit less important than they were. Nor has he changed in any way.

Prayer is a miracle of access.

We should use it more.

“So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most” (Hebrews 4: 16, NLT).

Whether we’re President of the United States or Bill Smith from North Carolina.

May God bless you and your family.

 

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