Listening to Instructions

shipNate was a bully, and a braggart; he pushed his way into every conversation or meeting in the village and then always set out to prove his opinion was the only right one – which it rarely was. His height alone was intimidating at 6 feet, 6 inches tall, but add in broad shoulders and narrow waist; Nate was a man that you wanted to avoid being at odds with, but just couldn’t. He wouldn’t let you.

One day God spoke to Nate while he was saying his morning prayers. God asked him to do something that would be very important to his village and all the people in it.  God said, “Nate, I have chosen you to be my instrument of change, to do something of great importance.”  Nate was astonished; not really, he always thought God needed to consult him on big items.

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When the load gets too heavy

 

pulley_35786_lgSometimes in life the weight you are trying to lift is too heavy: the stress of a new job, the illness of your spouse, another late notice from the bank. Alone we often just cannot accomplish all that is asked of us, nor should we have to in most cases.

Long ago, probably either the Greek’s or Roman’s invented a way to increase a person’s strength by the use of a rope and pulley system.   In reality, a person using a pulley (block and tackle) doesn’t get stronger; the weight of the item being lifted appears to shrink.  Looping a rope over one pulley and then attaching the loose end of the rope to the object being lifted changes the direction of the force, but doesn’t reduce the effort to lift it.   So in effect a 100 pound ball feels like 100 pounds when only using one pulley.However, adding another pulley does reduce the effort by 50% so a 100 pound box feels like 50 pounds.

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Checking the Box

to-do-list-photoEvery Saturday morning, just after our second cup of coffee, Lea and I make a list of what we need to accomplish before sleep overwhelms our tired and spent bodies late Sunday night.  The staples are always present: laundry, mow the lawns, grocery shop, and clean the pool.  We rarely list the fun things; movie, dinner out or play time with the grand kids, because we don’t want them to feel like a chore. Fun, although well planned, should be spontaneous by design. When we complete an item on the list we check it off with pride.  Often on Saturday afternoon we review our list together to assess our progress.  If we have done something not on the list and completed the task, we add it to the list so we can check it off.  Our system of measuring weekend accomplishments has taken decades to perfect and has managed to successfully keep full blown OCD at bay.  We have considered teaching classes on our method, but so far have decided against it. (However, if it ever makes the list we will do it).  Our weekend ritual of making and checking boxes for work activities is both functional and enjoyable for us, but I wonder, what else in my life has become a ritual of checking the box?

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What about Saturday?

saturdayOn Good Friday our Lord was crucified, just as He and the Scriptures foretold.  We call it Good Friday, because had Jesus not been sacrificed we could not be saved, so it was a good day for us, but being wrongfully accused and killed by jealous men does not usually make for a “good day.”  Then on the third day, Easter, Jesus rose from the dead, concurring, Satan, death and sin forever, just as He promised He would do.

The Easter weekend is arguably the most important period in a Christian’s life, because it is the culmination of promises made by God to his people throughout history.  It is the victory of good over evil, forever.  Yet for all of its importance, only Friday and Sunday are celebrated or written about in the Bible.  Saturday is left out of the story completely.  Is this because Saturday was not important; nothing big happened so why write about it? No, I believe Saturday is as important to understanding the mercy and salvation available from God as the death or resurrection.  Saturday teaches us patience; to wait for God’s timing and not ours.

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Take The Next Turn

road-trip1The term “Road Trip” immediately injects a vision of excitement and fun into an undertaking that often morphs into a mundane act of getting from here to there.  When driving, we usually focus on where we were or where we are going.  In the morning while driving to work we think about the challenges of today or about the family we left at home.  When driving to Disneyland, we focus on Mickey Mouse and the Matterhorn; we are concerned with the destination (as we should be), the method to get there is generally unimportant.  Although a road trip must have a starting and ending point (often the same place), the reason we get excited is because of the journey; it is the “getting to” part, not the here or there that produces a broad smile, and unleashes our inner world-explorer self.  A road trip is about having fun with where we are at that moment in time, and less concerned about where we have been and where we will be.  Often on a road trip there is not an established timetable, or schedule; you float from place to place absent the worry of being late.  

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The Christmas Story

God created the earth with the intension of living with us, of walking with us daily in His garden paradise. In the beginning, God only had one simple rule.

 “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”

“So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.”

“The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die”

“Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.”

Genesis 1:1, 27; Genesis 2:15-17, 25

 

But God gave us the gift of free will, so that our love and adoration to Him would be real, and honest.  Unfortunately, that left people to make their own choices, and their own mistakes.  That first mistake lead to the end of paradise.

“He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”  The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”  So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken.”

Genesis 3:10, 13

 

Mankind soon discovered that a life separate from God was no picnic, yet our suborn pride kept getting in the way of good choices. (Of God’s choices)

“So they put slave masters over them to oppress them with forced labor, and they built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh.  But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread; so the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites and worked them ruthlessly.  They made their lives bitter with harsh labor in brick and mortar and with all kinds of work in the fields; in all their harsh labor the Egyptians worked them ruthlessly.”

Exodus 1: 11-14

 

The moment Adam and Eve left the garden God started planning our return to Him, our eternal righteousness.  He chose Moses, and unlikely hero to be a leader to His people.

“One day, after Moses had grown up, he went out to where his own people were and watched them at their hard labor. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his own people. Looking this way and that and seeing no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.”

“God said to Moses, “I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent me to you.’”

Exodus 2:11-12; Exodus 3:14

 

Pharaoh did not obey God’s demands easily, but eventually relented.

 During the night Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “Up! Leave my people, you and the Israelites! Go, worship the Lord as you have requested. Take your flocks and herds, as you have said, and go. And also bless me.”

Exodus 12:31, 32

 

God’s people escaped Egypt, but their stubborn pride once again got in the way.  So, a journey that could have taken 11 days, took them 40 years to complete.  Only one person who fled from Egypt crossed the river Jordan.

“Go up to the land flowing with milk and honey. But I will not go with you, because you are a stiff-necked people and I might destroy you on the way.”

“Then the Lord said to him (Moses), “This is the land I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob when I said, ‘I will give it to your descendants.’ I have let you see it with your eyes, but you will not cross over into it.”

Exodus 33: 3; Deuteronomy 34:4

 

For thousands of years we struggled to follow in God’s way.  We fought Him, then obeyed Him, then fought Him once more.  He sent many prophets to remind us of our divine destiny, but we just would not listen.

“The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord, and for seven years he gave them into the hands of the Midianites.”

“No sooner had Gideon died than the Israelites again prostituted themselves to the Baals. They set up Baal-Berith as their god and did not remember the Lord their God, who had rescued them from the hands of all their enemies on every side.”

Judges 6:1, 33

 

However, God’s plan for us was in full swing.  He was sending forth great leaders and prophets to tell of a chosen one, a Savior for all time.  Salvation was on its way.

“The LORD swore an oath to David, a sure oath that he will not revoke: “One of your own descendants I will place on your throne.”

“For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.”

“The days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will raise up to David a righteous Branch, a King who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land. In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. This is the name by which he will be called: The LORD Our Righteousness.”

Psalms 132:11; Isaiah 9:6,Jeremiah 23:5-6

Now was the time; God’s plan to right what was wronged in the garden was now in its final stretch.  As foretold by dozens of people, the Savior of mankind would be born in Bethlehem.  King of Kings; Lord of Lords.  The Messiah.

“In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary.  The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”  Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be.  But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God.  You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus.  He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.”  “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”  The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.”

“So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David.  He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child.  While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.”

Luke 1:26-35; Luke 2:4-7

 

For all of eternity God planned for Christmas day.  Everything that transpired in history, from the garden to Abraham, Moses, David, and Mary: God’s overarching plan was to rid the world of sin, and bring all of humanity back home.   To do all of that, He needed to enlist the help of His Son.

Why, after the many times people let Him down, why would God keep trying to bring us back to Him?

One word: Love

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

John 3:16 

Merry Christmas!  This is your day to celebrate.

Flight 765

This story is the prototype of my next book, a year long weekly devotional featuring short stories that kindle long thoughts about God.  Fifty-two stories, hundreds of new ways to think about your relationship with God, and hopefully in an interesting and engaging way.  Let me know what you think.

Flight 765

Outside my window on the fourth row, the runway raced underneath faster and faster until the nose of the jet lifted, dragging the rest of the 737 with it. The two powerful engines overpowered gravity for the moment; but eventually gravity would win the battle, it always did.   So our pilot’s most important objective became choosing where and when the aircraft would submit to gravity and return to earth.   Everyone on board flight 765 that day preferred the surrender be accomplished gently, on a runway at the Denver airport.

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Sharpen Your Spoon

Is it just me, or does the world want more out of us, but continues to offer less in return? Are we paying more for what was a free service only a few years ago?  Flying is a perfect example of the negative change in the cost to value relationship of so many services or products we use. Flying used to be a luxurious form of transportation: good food, free movies, and big suitcases – a pampered existence for a few exciting hours.  Now, you pay extra to bring clothes to your destination, unless you can squeeze them into a lunchbox sized carryon; if you are hungry, then bring your own food, and if you want entertainment, bring a credit card.  The cost is up and the value is down.  When I was young, ice cream was sold in a 4-quart container; we called it a gallon of ice cream.  Now, since the makers of the ice cream have grown weary of raising prices, they have decreased the amount sold to 3.5 quarts.  Since when is 3.5 quarts equal to a gallon?  Everywhere, we are asked to pay more, and offered less in return – except in our transactions with God.  His cost has stayed the same, and His value has not tarnished.  His gifts are free and the value is immeasurable.  Yet, even with a cost to value relationship so tilted in our favor, the darkness in this world wins too often, so we believers need to do more.  The amount of pain, sickness, and hurt; the abandonment of all things Christian by governments big and small, and the stress of living in uncertain economic and political times, calls us to do more.  We, who believe in God, must dig deeper to help those who do not know how, or where to dig.  We need to sharpen our spoons.

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Sag Mir, Wo Die Blumen Sind?

This German folk tune, later sung by a host of musicians including Peter, Paul, and Mary, asks a very good question in its title; “Where have all the flowers gone?”   Throughout the song, the songwriter misplaces a multitude of people and things – I used to sing this song in my eighth grade German class.   Listening to the tune brought back a memory of the last time I “lost” my keys.  All of us have lost our keys, books, wallet or purse, only to find the missing artifact in some obvious place a few moments, or hours later.  We are amazed to think that we could have overlooked during our frantic search a set of keys sitting on the kitchen table.   Could the keys have become invisible for two hours, and then just reappeared?  Is there a wormhole to a distant universe in my kitchen?  Or maybe, when we lose, or temporarily misplace something, it is because we have forgotten where ‘it’ came from and how to find ‘it’ once it has become missing?

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In The Desert

Even though I wore denim pants, the sharp grains of sand bit through to my knees like so many small razors, so that the intense heat of the desert floor was able to freely burn my skin in a hundred tiny sparks.  I crawled with my toes lifted off the sand as best I could, because the heat was so intense in the midafternoon they burned with only a momentary touch.  My calves cramped almost hourly, forcing me to stretch and then I touched the desert – inflicting another burn atop a previous wound.  My hands were not so lucky, yet in a way they were fortunate.  One hand was always in contact with the sand, so they burned red; but it didn’t take long for my palms to callus and scar, so I couldn’t feel the destruction happening, I just knew that it was. 

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