The Cup

I took another trip to Houston this past week to visit my sister who is now terminally ill with her bout over cancer. Her desire at the moment is to make it to worship this Sunday and have Walter, her dog, come spend a day with her. She said both of those things would make her very happy and at last report the fulfillment of those requests were ongoing. I left to come back home on Wednesday a little after noon. About eight miles into my journey I started smelling anti-freeze and looked in the rearview mirror to discover a cloud of steam rolling out the back of my van. I pulled over and opened the hood to find a broken heater hose connection and surmised I had the tools to fix it; all I needed was the parts. I called my daughter, luckily still in town, to come and rescue me. After limping the van to a safer place to work, I got started on repairs. Still waiting on my rescuer to arrive, I heard the distinct sound of a vehicle coming up the street riding on a flat tire. The car pulled in next to me. A man and woman got out and I joked, “I guess this must be the place to break-down today.” They had just bought the car and had a ‘doughnut’ spare tire, but no jack or lug-nut wrench. We tried everything I had to no avail and about that time my daughter arrived. We looked through her car but nothing would work there either. I informed the couple we were headed to get parts and they were welcome to accompany us if they wished. To make a long story short, the parts house accommodated both our needs and within the hour we were both back on the road. I have to witness here that even though I don’t like to break down on the road, things could have been much worse. I have to praise God for where it happened, it could have been miles further down the road out in the middle of nowhere, and I also got the chance to meet and help someone else in need. I did let that couple know I thought it to be great how the Lord put us together that way so we could help one another through our troubles and trials of the day. I got back a great big, “Amen!”

[Matt. 20:20-23; 26:36-46; John 18:11; 2 Cor. 5:17-21] We read in the Bible of Pharaoh’s cup, Joseph’s silver cup, David’s overflowing cup, wine cups, gold cups, cups of wrath and other cups. Jesus prayed in the garden the night of his arrest, “…if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me.” This cup Jesus speaks of is the experience he was about to go through. Jesus, the Lamb of God was about to have the sins of the world laid upon him, to become the scapegoat of all peoples, then taken outside the city to be sacrificed. Yes, sinless Jesus, become sin, and he knew what would happen to his relationship with the Father. “Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you so that he will not hear” (Isaiah 59:1-2). On the cross, at the ninth hour, Jesus cried out “…why have you forsaken me?” God the Father had separated himself from Jesus who now carried the sins of the world. The earth shook; the sun went dark, graves opened and the dead walked out. Chaos broke out because Jesus, God’s Word, was not a part of God and creation began spinning out of control. Jesus, the man, died and took the sins of the world to the grave. God’s plan was fulfilled and through the obedience of His Son, sinful man can be spiritually reconciled to the Father, sinless and free of guilt. Through baptism we can take our sins to a watery grave and be raise, as Jesus was, a new creature, living in God’s grace. Jesus drank that cup so we won’t have to, in order to be saved form God’s cup of wrath because of our sinful disobedient nature. Jesus has paid the debt and lives to save us.

The Spiritual Dimension of Life

I’ve had one of those weeks when one is reminded just how fragile life is and how unexpected physical challenges can pop up at any time. My visit to the specialist to inspect my vocal cords was not what I was hoping. It seems the cord just worked on this past December has already blossomed again and surgery is scheduled for the 29^th of this month. My wife has been dealing with medicines that are no longer working as physical changes have made them ineffective. In the search for replacement meds she has been very sick for about a month, but it appears the doctor has found something that is going to work, hopefully lifting her quality of life. My sister in Houston, having had gone through several cancer surgeries and treatments, is now in a state of terminal illness. A trip to Houston and back put my life on hold for a couple of days and another trip the first of this week will do the same again. If that wasn’t enough for one week, my little Bella started coughing and snorking demanding a visit to the vet to find out what was going on there. A springtime allergy is our best guess at the moment and some medicine to see if that helps. One doesn’t know whether to scream or sit and cry.

Howard Rutledge, a U.S. Air force pilot, was shot down over North Vietnam during the early stages of that war. He spent several miserable years in the hands of his captors before being released at the war’s conclusion. In his book ‘In the Presence of Mine Enemies’ he reflects upon the resources from which he drew in those arduous days when life seemed so intolerable. “During those longer periods of forced reflection, it became so much easier to separate the important from the trivial, the worthwhile from the waste. For example, in the past, I usually worked or played hard on Sundays and had no time for church. For years Phyllis (his wife) had encouraged me to join the family at church. She never nagged or scolded, she just kept hoping. But I was too busy, too preoccupied, to spend one or two short hours a week thinking about the really important things. Now the sights and sounds and smells of death were all around me. My hunger for spiritual food soon outdid my hunger for a steak. Now I want to talk about God and Christ and the church. But in Heartbreak’s (the name the POW’s gave their prison camp) solitary confinement, there was no preacher, no Sunday school teacher, no Bible, no hymnbook, no community of believers to guide and sustain me. I had completely neglected the spiritual dimension of my life. It took prison to show me how empty life is without God.” It took the presence of a POW camp to show Rutledge that there was a center to his private world that he had been neglecting all his life.

[Ecclesiastes 12:13] Carri, my sister, has settled into an assisted living facility where she will spend the rest of her days in this world. It may seem hard to find any joy or a silver lining in terminal cancer, but one doesn’t have to look very deep, for my sister is wearing it like a coat of many colors given to her by the Father who loves her very much. She, like most all of us, had once neglected her spiritual well-being for a while, but rekindled the flame that is this day keeping her warm in the knowledge that there is a home waiting for her after departing this life. Ask her and she’ll tell you all about it. She says she is experiencing a calming peace she has never had before and is not afraid or worried about a thing. At present, her physical and spiritual hungers are being filled.

Those Nasty Ticks

I saw a good political cartoon the other day. Two dinosaurs are standing in the midst of the Capital buildings (Washington, D.C.). One has a part of the Washington Monument in its grasp with a big bite taken from it. The other is eye-balling the rotunda of the House of Congress. The dino holding the monument is looking toward the other dino and says, “You know you can’t eat that – it’s full of nuts!” I thought, yeh, you can make a lot of good products out of nuts, but good government ain’t one of them. I wonder; were most of these nuts planted by the peanut farmer?

A little silver-haired lady phones her neighbor and says, “Come on over and help me a few minutes. I’ve have a new jigsaw puzzle and I can’t figure out how to get started assembling it.” The neighbor asks, “What’s it suppose to be when it’s finished?” The silver-haired lady in need answers, “According to the picture on the box it’s a rooster.” Her neighbor decides to go help her with the puzzle. The helpful neighbor is invited in and escorted to the kitchen. There on the kitchen table she observes the puzzle pieces spread out over its surface. The neighbor studies the pieces for a moment, then looks at the box, then turns to the silver-haired lady and says, “First of all, no matter what we do, we’re not going to be able to assemble these pieces into anything resembling a rooster.” The helpful neighbor takes her by the hand and says, “Secondly, I want you to relax. Let’s have a nice cup of coffee, and then” the neighbor said, while patting her on the hand and drawing a deep sigh, “let’s put all the Corn Flakes back in the box.”

[1Corinthians 15:33-34] Have you ever found a tick on your body? Ticks spend a good bit of time just waiting in the bushes, grass and woods for a victim – you or your dog – to pass by. They jump on you then quickly crawl to a protected spot on your body. They sink their mouth parts into your skin to feed on your life’s blood. You wonder how you never felt it and it’s even scarier if it’s been there long enough to be all puffed up, engorged with your blood. They’re hard to remove and unfortunately, parts of the tick could stay under the skin causing infection and the tick itself may infect your blood with disease. The tick is a lot like sin: * It gets on you when it’s small and almost undetectable. * It doesn’t demand much sacrifice, but it may cause a little irritation. * Once imbedded, it’s hard to get off! * It gets bigger the longer it stays on you. * It can leave you very seriously ill. Some advice for dealing with ticks and sin: > Don’t walk in places that are known to be infected. “Be very careful, then, how you live - not as unwise but as wise” (Ephesians 5:15). > Examine yourself daily. “Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you - unless, of course, you fail the test?” (2 Corinthians 13:5). > Have others examine you, and help examine them too. “But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness” (Hebrews 3:13). > If one gets on you, get it off immediately! “…confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The pray of a righteous man is powerful and effective” (James 5:16). > If you realize you are getting sick, see the doctor! “…Jesus said, ‘It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners’” (Mark 2:17). “Come back to your senses as you ought, and stop sinning; for there are some who are ignorant of God.” Just saying.

Consequences of Poor Planning

“The Bricklayer's Accident Report”, an excerpt from “Why Patty’s Not At Work Today”, told by Gerard Hoffnung at the Oxford Union, December 4th, 1958. Dear Sir: I am writing in response to your request for additional information in Block #3 of the accident reporting form. I put "Poor Planning" as the cause of my accident. You asked for a fuller explanation and I trust the following details will be sufficient. I am a bricklayer by trade. On the day of the accident, I was working alone on the roof of a new six-story building. When I completed my work, I found I had some bricks left over which when weighed later were found to weigh 240 lbs. Rather than carry the bricks down by hand, I decided to lower them in a barrel by using a pulley which was attached to the side of the building at the sixth floor. Securing the rope at ground level, I went up to the roof, swung the barrel out and loaded the bricks into it. Then I went down and untied the rope, holding it tightly to insure a slow descent of the 240 lbs of bricks. You will note on the accident reporting form that my weight is 135 lbs. Due to my surprise at being jerked off the ground so suddenly, I lost my presence of mind and forgot to let go of the rope. Needless to say, I proceeded at a rapid rate up the side of the building. In the vicinity of the third floor, I met the barrel which was now proceeding downward at an equally impressive speed. This explains the fractured skull, minor abrasions and the broken collarbone, as listed in Section 3, accident reporting form. Slowed only slightly, I continued my rapid ascent, not stopping until the fingers of my right hand were two knuckles deep into the pulley, which I mentioned in Paragraph 2 of this correspondence. Fortunately by this time I had regained my presence of mind and was able to hold the rope, in spite of the excruciating pain I was now beginning to experience. At approximately the same time, however, the barrel of bricks hit the ground and the bottom fell out of the barrel. Now devoid of the weight of the bricks, the barrel weighed approximately 50 lbs. I refer you again to my weight. As you might imagine, I began a rapid descent down the side of the building. In the vicinity of the third floor, I met the barrel coming up. This accounts for the two fractured ankles, broken tooth and severe lacerations of my legs and lower body. Here my luck began to change slightly. The encounter with the barrel seemed to slow me enough to lessen my injuries when I fell into the pile of bricks and fortunately only three vertebrae were cracked. I am sorry to report, however, as I lay there on the pile of bricks, in pain, unable to move and watching the empty barrel six stories above me, I again lost my composure and presence of mind and let go of the rope.

[Proverbs 1:1-7; 3:5-8] Most likely the proceeding story is simply an urban legend and we laugh at the accidental “poorly planned” end to the bricklayer’s day. Have you planned well for the end of your life? The story can be related to the ups and downs of life with its directional changing crises that keep blind-siding us. It‘s commonly said, “watch out”, when things are going well in life. And if you’re trying to manage the troubles and trials of life all by yourself, the sheer weight of it will cause you to lose your composure and presence of mind (Matthew 6:25-34). When the bricklayer came to his senses and let go of the rope he still had a bad end to his day coming down on him. When you let go of the world, what will you see coming at you? God’s wrath or love?