Challenges

I believe you could count on both hands the number of times I’ve missed Sunday worship in my local congregation in the past twenty-five years. And most of those misses were voluntary - being out of town. So rare am I sick to begin with, I was so sick last week I was beginning to believe my next trip to the church building was going to be in a casket. Yeh, I was sick!! And on a holiday weekend to boot!! I was beginning to think I had strep throat and was praying it wasn’t going to bloom into tonsillitis. Most of last week I didn’t feel real well, but it didn’t hit me hard until Saturday evening. Needless-to-say Sunday morning I went to the building and got everything ready to go for worship, and crashed. Sunday and Monday were spent in bed and Tuesday in the doctor’s office I’m found to have, at best, bronchitis; probably, bronchial pneumonia. Of course, being the typical hard-headed male, I was determined to work my way through this “cold” like I always do and everything would be fine. “All I’ve got to do is keep going,” I challenge myself, and I did right up to the point of total exhaustion. Now the worst part of this whole episode was the weather and having to work the yard cleaning up tree debris and keeping the grass cut back between evening storms. Plus, I had been without home internet for nearly a week, unable to do any work all weekend. Come to find out, I had had a lightning strike close enough to knock out my radio receiver and I was way down the list of storm related repairs to be taken care of. I finally got my service restored this past Wednesday. Well, things are on the mend, accept now my wife is not feeling well.

There was an older man who went out jogging. He was running around the track that encircles the high school football field where the team was conducting their practice. When the football players began running their sprints up and down the field, the man challenged himself, “I’ll just keep running until they quit.” So, they ran; and he ran. And they kept on running; so he kept on running. Finally, in total exhaustion the man had to stop. While walking along to slow his cardio, an equally exhausted football player walked over to him and said, “Boy, we sure are glad you finally stopped, mister. Our coach told us we had to keep running wind sprints as long as the old guy keeps jogging!”

 [1 Thessalonians 5:12-22; Proverbs 15] With all the conflict, and the suffering that goes along with it in this world today, one would think mankind would want to stop challenging himself to be bigger and greater than his neighbor, or at the least stop challenging his neighbor to become like him, even if that means dragging him down into the mud. Much too often lately we hear of mortal conflicts stemming from verbal challenges. We have a disagreement with someone and get into an argument. Voices get raised. Neither side wants to be the first to give in, to stop speaking in anger. Everyone shares the attitude, “I’ll just keep on till they quit!” So the other party stays angry. And on and on we go, eventually finding ourselves emotionally and even physically exhausted by the ongoing animosity. That leads to some pretty wild decisions being made as to how best settle the situation. Let me challenge you to do something very difficult to do the first couple of times. The next time you get into an argument, be the first to give in. Be the first to stop the yelling and the name-calling. Be the first to say, “I’m sorry.” It’s the quickest way to stop the vicious cycle. You’re not right or wrong; you’re being mature in your thinking. “A soft answer turns away wrath; but a harsh word stirs up anger.” Peace.

Taking TimeTo Remember

I grew up on the south shores of Lake Ontario, where the winters were brutal, the spring-times were wet, summers were perfect and autumn always absolutely beautiful. I would still live there eight months of the year if it were possible, but you can keep those winters. Summertime holidays were a big deal during my youth with Memorial Day being the big kickoff of outdoor activity. There would be parades in every city and town around, taking time out to remember and honor those who served this country during the great wars, and especially honoring those who gave their life so others could remain free to pursue Godly happiness. It was also a weekend that started seasons for motorsports, Little League, and amateur baseball and softball leagues. Some family traditions took them to the lakeshore for a picnic cookout, boating and water skiing. My mother and her parents always found time to talk about the brother and son lost in WWII. They never had a grave to visit as he was lost overseas and never recovered for burial. It was a solemn and joyous weekend wrapped into one with remembrance and celebration being the order of the day. I fear with the reality of movies and the real-time minute-to-minute media coverage we receive today - war, battles and destruction have become a way of life for us, and our sensitivity toward the sacrifices, even unto death, that our service men and women are making for US, is waning into a big party by the beach. There’s nothing wrong with freely having fun, just remember who it is that has sustained that freedom for you while you’re complaining about the traffic.

[2 Peter 1:3-7] The apostle Paul tells us that in order to ensure not falling; a Christian must give diligence to add virtue to his or her faith. The word translated “virtue” in some Bible translations, means “goodness” or “moral excellence”. To be virtuous, good, morally excellent, doesn’t happen by accident. It is a quality that must be sought after with “all diligence”. In this respect, I feel we are taking a fall as citizens of both God’s kingdom and citizens of our great country. The world admires and even celebrates those who excel. In sports, excellence is recognized by various awards like Heisman, Golden Glove, Dick Butkus, MVP, Rookie of the Year, metals and trophies and so on. Employers recognize the excellence of their employees with bonuses, plaques and various awards. The world recognizes great accomplishments with Nobel or Pulitzer prizes. Those who achieve great things in these different arenas could testify to the dedication and hard work behind their accomplishments. To excel in morality or goodness also requires dedication, pursuit, hard work, made all the more difficult by so many evil influences and enemies, the minions of Satan. The path to virtue and moral goodness follows Jesus. In fact, 2 Peter 1:3 says that God calls us to that virtue; His virtue. Notice, to be good is to think good thoughts (Proverbs 23:17), to speak good words (James 3:9-10) and to do good things (Romans 13: 1-7). To be virtuous, morally excellent, is to think like the Lord; speak as would the Lord; and to do the things that the Lord would do. The Lord’s church celebrates a memorial the first day of every week in remembrance of our Lord and Savior. Even Paul had to rehearse this fact in his first letter to the Corinthians as they had forgotten what the Lord’s Supper was really all about (2 Corinthians 23-26). Our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ, laid down his life for us (1 John 3:16) and saved us from our sins (Colossians 1:13-14). Remember.

God-Fearing Silence

   Well, we certainly can’t complain about the dry weather for a while to come. This has been one of the wettest spring seasons I can recall for some time. We’ve had some pretty scary weather blow through the past couple of weeks. One night last week, about one in the morning, I awoke to lightning so constant it appeared to be daylight at times, and the thunder accompanying it was like the roar of an angry grizzly. As I stood in the open doorway of my house the wind became ever increasing as the storm came closer. I had the weather radar on my phone where I could clearly see the worst of the storm was just north of the city headed east and I could tell it was very violent. I stood there in prayer for those experiencing the storm and also prayed there wasn’t large hail, which the area had been pelted with a lot lately or worse yet, a tornado imbedded in the storm. Then, of course, the wind and rain forced me to close the door and at the same time the lights went out. The rain was blowing sideways hitting the side of the house, and fearing hail and broken glass and such, I made my wife get out of bed and get dressed. The storm did pass without too much damage except for a lot of downed trees and electrical power outages. I could see in the dark, limbs from my two pecan trees on the ground but the daylight reveled the whole side yard was covered with debris from my trees and trash from half the neighborhood piled up against my yard fence. I’m still cleaning up knowing it could have been worse as I see others with a bigger mess to clean up than mine. I still don’t like those night-time storms, I suppose because it instills fear of the unknown not being able to see what’s coming over the horizon. I thank God there was no tornado. I guess I should report, at the time of this writing, my wife is about to die for she’s been without internet wifi at home for two days. So sad.

Fear can be a healthy thing as it tends to heighten our awareness and prepares us for action. Lord knows, there are plenty of scary things out there to worry about and most of them we can’t do a thing about. Calvin Coolidge once said, “If you see ten troubles coming down the road, you can be sure that nine will run into the ditch before they reach you.” You say, sure but what about: Dirty bombs, Global warming, Disease, Terrorist attacks, Earthquakes, Ozone depletion, Shifting of the magnetic poles and Population out-growing food sources and on and on. Let’s get down to earth here and work with those things we can change and/or prevent. Despair and hopelessness has led mankind down the road of false happiness through drugs, alcohol, perverted sexual activity and a myriad of other self-indulging temporary satisfactions that all come with potentially harmful consequences. Mankind is becoming very evil and selfish.

[2 Corinthians 5:10-11; Hebrews 10:26-31] “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline” (Proverbs 1:7). We are living in a “God-fearing” country that no longer fears God. Even the majority of our citizens, who label themselves “God-fearing”, cannot be heard over the less than ten percent voice that’s re-writing the laws of the land dragging everyone into a pit of debauchery. Fear of revenge or punishment is searing the conscience of the God-fearing citizenry of this great republic. God’s will for man, the foundation of our republic, once known and loved by its leaders and law-makers, is being dismantled, cloaked in the lie of equality. “It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God”, for vengeance is His.   TOM

BOB CHRISTIAN

A little old Jewish lady is flying out of New York City on her way to Miami Beach. She looks at the businessman sitting next to her and asks him, “Excuse me sir, but are you Jewish?” The man responds politely, “No, ma’am, I’m not Jewish.” After a little while, she again asks him. “You’re really Jewish, aren’t you?” Again he responds, “No, ma’am, I am not Jewish.” Barely 10 minutes later, the little old lady asks him once more, “Are you sure you’re not Jewish?” Finally, in exasperation and in a final effort to shut her up, he replies, “OK. Yes, ma’am, I am Jewish." “Funny,” she says, looking puzzled. “You don’t look Jewish!” That makes me wonder; If anyone approached me and asked me, “Are you a Christian?” and I answered, “Yes”, would they be inclined to say, “Funny, you don’t look like a Christian?” How embarrassing.

In his book, "The Kingdom Agenda," Tony Evans tells the story about a man who was mystified at what he saw painted on a rural barn. There were twenty painted targets. Each one had only one bullet hole in it, each perfectly centered in the bull's-eye. Whoever had been using the barn for target practice was definitely an outstanding marksman. Seeking out the barns owner, he asked: “Who in the world did the shooting on the side of your barn?" "Oh, that was me!” “Where did you learn to shoot that well?" “It was easy, I shot first, and then I drew the target around the bullet hole!” Mr. Evans’ point: “In today's culture, we do everything we can to give the impression that our lives are on target when in reality all we have done is learn to paint bull's-eyes.”

[Psalm 119:89-96] The Diary of a Bible - January: A busy time for me. Most of the family decided to read me through this year. They kept me busy for the first two weeks, but they have forgotten me now. February: Clean-up time. I was dusted yesterday and put back in my place. My owner did use me for a few minutes last week. He had been in an argument and was looking up some references to prove he was right. March: Had a busy day first of the month. My owner was elected president of the PTA and used me to prepare for a speech. April: Grandpa visited us this month. He kept me on his lap for an hour reading 1 Cor. 13. He seems to think more of me than do some people in my own household. May: I have a few green stains on my pages. Some spring flowers were pressed in my pages. June: I look like a scrapbook. They have stuffed me full of newspaper clippings- one of the girls was married. July: They put me in a suitcase today. I guess we are off on vacation. I wish I could stay home; I know I'll be closed up in this thing for at least two weeks. August: Still in the suitcase.  September: Back home at last and in my old familiar place. I have a lot of company. Two women's magazine's and four comic books are stacked on top of me. I wish I could be read as much as they are. October: They read me a little bit today. One of them is sick. Right now I am sitting in the center of the coffee table. I think that the Pastor is coming by for a visit. November: Back in my old place. Somebody asked today if I were a scrapbook. December: The family is busy getting ready for the holidays. I guess I'll be covered up under wrapping paper and packages again.... just as I am every Christmas. Question: Are we striving to conform to His Image? Or are we trying to form God in our own image? “…I will never forget your precepts, for by them you have preserved my life”(v.93). Baptized + Obedient + Believer = CHRISTIAN.

A Mother's UnfailingLove

Our mothers get recognized once a year for their year-round selfless dedication to rearing a family. With a few senseless exceptions, mothers would give their life for their babies, protecting and nurturing them to the best of their abilities. My mother was blind in one eye from birth and had difficulties all her life seeing properly with the other eye. Yet she raised four children each of whom had no doubt she possessed eyes in the back of her head. I don’t suppose we could thank the mothers of the world enough for their endless hours of work dedicated to the education and comfort of her children. Mothers can express their wonderful love in so many ways, sometimes it can be scary. But we all know, generally, her bark is worse than her bite. She still loves me.

Who other than a mother knows what the world looks like at 2a.m., 3 a.m. and 4 a.m.? – And feels like she will never again get a full night’s sleep. Who other than a mother is able to carry a diaper bag, a stuffed animal, shopping bag, purse, baby and keys (all in one arm), while keeping the other hand available to unlock the car, open doors or hold the hand of another child? Who other than a mother can eat peanut butter and jelly for several days in a row, counts fruit snacks as a fruit and thinks McDonald’s (with a playground) is one of the best restaurants in town? Who other than a mother never goes to sleep at night until each child is checked on, covered up and kissed? Who other than a mother drives a car decorated with a car seat or two, empty juice boxes, fruit snack wrappers, a variety of toys and books and several stale french-fries? Who other than a mother can spend her afternoon playing a simple board-game, while watching a “Thomas the Train” video and reading aloud from the book “Go Dog, Go” knowing that it is time well spent? Who other than a mother can remember the exact moment her baby smiled for the first time, took their first step or finally said “ma-ma” after saying “da-da’ for months? Who other than a mother with endless chores of dishes, laundry and cleaning would stop in the middle of these tasks when she hears, “Mommy, will you play with me?” Who other than a mother will worry constantly and pray consistently for her children, and know that the most important thing that she can do for her children is to teach them that God loves them more than she ever could.

[Ephesians 6:2; Psalm 71] If you are a breathing somebody, you have been birthed; you have a mother. She has carried you inside her body while, as David wrote of his intimate relationship with God even before he was born, so perfectly stated, “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb” (Psalm 139:13). The job of all parents is to do their best to work themselves out of a job. To physically nurture a child to maturity takes some finesse that, I believe, can only come from a mother. Self-sustaining independence of a child comes from learning and observing the performances of both parents, but mothers instill that resonance of caring love that even the toughest macho dude tends to eke out when introduced to his first new-born. Yeh, tears of joy come from a loving mother. Moms have the toughest time turning loose of their babies, but I think it’s not near as hard when she has had a firm hand in their spiritual growth. No, she can’t save you or forgive your sins as does God, but she has the greatest opportunity to plant the Word of God in the heart of her children. I can testify to my mother’s unfailing love for me through my faith in my Lord and Savior.