Normal is as normal does

The computer-internet-social media experience for my generation and those younger has certainly helped maintain relationships with friends, classmates and teammates.  One of my contacts is an old high school football teammate who is 69 years of age and I’m 70. My friend Chuck has lived an extraordinary life of teaching, coaching, writing and being a great father and husband to a lady he says is his joy.

We played together on an undefeated (28-game win streak) football team in the Washington, D.C., suburbs. In the early sixties, school desegregation had already been implemented several years earlier, but racism was far from being eliminated or is it today.  God chose to make Chuck and me different colors in His many flavors of created children.  Chuck was a grade below me in school and in our football connection, through the encouragement of others, Chuck and I had a wrestling match one Saturday in the gym to see who was toughest. It turns out that we both won the wrestling match, for this was the beginning of a relationship of love and respect that continues today. The icing on the cake of this relationship is a joint love of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ

I must say that Chuck is a much greater stimulator of conversation in the social media than I am. About the time I think he has run out of questions and comments, here he comes again with more thought provoking stuff that reaches out to all of his many friends, students, classmates and teammates. Discussions about his spirituality are frequent and usually elicit many comments and questions from others.

Recently, Chuck began a long discussion that started like this: “Are you normal?  I am not. I have always had a cross section of heroes and friends. Most people my age, and I am just 69, their heroes are from their ethnic background. My heroes cover every racial and ethnic group and age category. I have often wondered why I am so strange and different.” This was just the tip of the iceberg of his comments, but it got me thinking about just what is normal. It made me think of a quote from Maya Angelou. She said, “If you are always trying to be normal, you will never know how amazing you can be.”

I remember reading a book entitled Same Kind of Different As Me that dispelled the idea of being normal. The awkward friendship between a white man and a black man that begins over coffee eventually evolves into the two sharing their lives with one another, even going on road trips together.  Denver Moore is a poor, black man who is bitter and penniless that ends up graciously loving those who hate him. Ron Hall, a self-absorbed affluent successful art dealer ends up serving at a local homeless shelter and inviting the poor into his home. This true story of friendship calls us to evaluate our lives with love and compassion. In the parallel stories of these two men we see completely different men, both from the South, both searching for life’s meaning in different ways.

There is no “Normal” in this life we live. Each of us is created by God with our one of a kind set of attributes. We should use them to seek God’s Will for us in this world. Each result is different not normal.

We are informed as to how God uses our unique differences in St. Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians 12:12-25, which says in part:--  “For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.  For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and we were all made to drink of one Spirit. Indeed, the body does not consist of one member but of many.  If the foot would say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body.  And if the ear would say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body.  If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be?  But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose.”

Science is moving closer to God

We have Holy Scripture and church doctrine that help us to understand the existence of and our relationship with God. Jesus, as God’s Word, took God’s message to a new level. Even with scripture and church doctrine, we can enhance our understanding and relationship with God in other ways as well.

We can get a glimpse of God in the beauty of nature that is around us and we can get an understanding of our Universe through science that seems to support our faith more as new discoveries are made. Seeing God’s gifts of plants, animals, land, sea and ourselves can help confirm our faith.  Understanding the universe better supports our faith and describes what a magnificent plan and gift God has given us.

Chet Raymo, a noted writer, scientist, educator and naturalist, decided in his early twenties, to explore more of nature on Earth and ponder the new discoveries in science relating to not only our Earth, but to our universe. He is Professor Emeritus of Physics and Astronomy at Stonehill College, in Easton, Massachusetts. His weekly newspaper column Science Musings appeared in the Boston Globe for twenty years. In Raymo’s studies of the universe he said, “In science I discovered a universe of wonderful dimension, complexity and beauty. It was a universe that folded inward to embrace the helical dance of [our] DNA, and outward to enclose the enigmatic quasars and spiraling galaxies.” Raymo goes on to say, “The questions I then asked were these:        1) What is the relevance of traditional religion in the world described by contemporary science?    2) Is scientific knowledge a satisfactory ground for the religious experience? 3) Can the language of traditional religion constitute an appropriately modern language of praise?

In one period of his life, Raymo spent 8 consecutive summers on the peninsula of Dingle in Southwestern Ireland.  This piece of land was full of signs of creation in the rocks, flora & fauna. Dingle’s unpredictable weather and difficulty in entry has kept out industry and sightseers. In his book, Honey from Stone - A Naturalists Search for God, Raymo explains his search for a connection with God through nature. His book title is taken from a quote by St. Bernard of Clairvaux: “More things are learnt in the woods than from books; trees and rocks will teach you things not to be heard elsewhere.  You will see for yourselves that honey may be gathered from stones and oil from the hardest rock……”

In addition to his reconnections with nature, Raymo makes a comparison involving Earth and the Super Nova’s, Quasars/Black Holes, Galaxies and stars in general. For instance, a Quasar is a very distant semi-star powered by a black hole with a mass two billion times that of the Sun. Quasars are believed to be powered by swallowing up other mass in the universe. A super-massive black hole would have to consume the material equivalent of 10 stars per year. The brightest known quasars devour 1000 solar masses of material every year. The largest known is estimated to consume matter equivalent to 600 Earths per minute. There is a very distant quasar powered by a black hole with a mass two billion times that of the Sun. That is humbling information for us tiny Earthlings.

Raymo compares these Black Holes with the DNA (Deoxyribonucleic acid) of all living things on Earth as it encodes the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms and many viruses. In making the connection between far away stars and our own DNA, Raymo talks about our kinship.  This kinship is confirmed in the Public Television series, COSMOS, first presented in 1980. In this series it is demonstrated that the elements created and contained in “star dust” are the same as the elements in our personal DNA Codes. Our bones, tissue, muscles contain these “star dust” elements. For instance, when a Super Nova millions of miles from Earth explodes at the end of its existence, the dust that is created and spread through the universe contains the elements we are made of.

For us Christians, science can only tell us what it discovers about the universe made by our Creator God. Science helps us understand just how great God’s gifts to us really are. The descriptions of Creation in the Bible tell us what science is just finding out. Science is not needed to prove what is already known to us. It only serves as detail concerning what God has already told us: “Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return” (Genesis 3:19).

There's one thing I know I should do

Several years ago, I began a habit of taking the tune from a onetime popular song and writing my own lyric. I have chosen tunes that I’ve been drawn to and penciled in my own, usually spiritual, lyric. This habit exercises my brain and challenges me to express my faith in a new way.

 I’ve often noticed that hymns we sing in church are many times one person’s lyrics put to another person’s tune. Certain tunes have been used by new lyric writers a number of times. So over time, many have used this way of expressing their thoughts and faith using a tune already in place.

The tune that has recently caught my attention is “Dedicated to the One I Love”, written by Lowman Pauling and Ralph Bass. It has been performed by many artists over the years. While my lyric doesn’t rime with the original lyric, it fits the rhythm and format. It goes like this:

“When I ignore you O my Father,
I know it saddens You, my Father.
And things don’t go my way my Father.
And in the darkness, there’s no song. 

But the times when I go to bed My Father,
And I whisper a little prayer to you my Father
Then you make the stars to shine above
And Your Love and light they flow to me.                                      

Life can never be exactly like we want it to be,
but I should be happy knowing you love me.
There's one thing I know I should do, especially for You. I should let You handle all my needs.

When I ignore you O my Father,
I know it saddens You, my Father.
And things don’t go my way my Father.
And in the darkness, there’s no song. 

There's one thing I know I should do, especially for You. I should let You handle all my needs.”

It is not only necessary for us to turn to our Creator Father in all things, it is mandatory in living the gift of life He has given us. We must not throw away His gift. The verses of Psalm 8 sing to us the characteristics of our God and Father: 

“O LORD our Governor, how exalted is your Name in all the world!

Out of the mouths of infants and children your majesty is praised above the heavens.

You have set up a stronghold against your adversaries, to quell the enemy and the avenger.

When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars you have set in their courses,

What is man that you should be mindful of him? The son of man that you should seek him out?

You have made him but little lower than the angels; you adorn him with glory and honor;

You give him mastery over the works of your hands; you put all things under his feet:

All sheep and oxen, even the wild beasts of the field, The birds of the air, the fish of the sea, and whatsoever walks in the paths of the sea.

O LORD our Governor, how exalted is your Name in all the world!”

We must take God seriously, for we owe this life to Him. Those who go other ways are missing the most beautiful parts of life. Man has achieved great things, but there is no other Creator. He is One.

Who's in charge?

We are challenged in our lives each day as to who is in control. The tension of deciding whether we’re in charge or God is in charge haunts us. We feel like we must do something on our own, but most times we end up taking charge of everything. In Zechariah 7:8--8:8 we hear about the condition of man several thousand years ago: "Thus says the LORD of hosts: Render true judgments, show kindness and mercy to one another...But they refused to listen, and turned a stubborn shoulder, and stopped their ears in order not to hear. They made their hearts adamant in order not to hear the law and the words that the LORD of hosts had sent by his spirit through the former prophets.”

This stubbornness sounds very bold. It's hard to imagine people being so reluctant to follow and listen to the Lord. But when we are distracted from the Lord are we not doing the same thing? Are not our ears deaf and eyes blind to the Lord when we simply put Him on hold while we get on with the rest of our lives? Whether intentional or just through neglect and laziness, when we turn off the Lord in our lives we are no better than these are.

We treat God as a last resort. We think, "I'll do it my way and if all else fails I'll call on God to bail me out." If we know that He is the answer, why do we wait? Are we embarrassed to call on Him? This reminds me of relationships that I have observed over the years between leaders and their subordinates. I have been on both ends of this myself. There is something unpleasant about having to report bad news. No one likes to tell their superior that things are not going so well. We come up with all sorts of schemes to convince ourselves that we can hide our problems and fix them before we have to come clean about them.

Our relationship with God is similar. We just hate to admit to Him that we can't do it on our own. Somehow we have come up with the notion that He wants us to be strong and independent, showing no weakness. Nothing could be further from the truth. God knows everything about us. He created us and follows our every move. How can we possibly think that we can keep anything from Him? He knows it before it's done. He is always holding out His hand for us because He knows that we need Him. He doesn't expect us to do it without Him. But we still refuse to listen; turn a stubborn shoulder; and stop our ears.

For whatever reasons that we have for not seeking the Lord in all things, we must reject them and turn to Him now and every day hereafter. We must have a sense of urgency about getting this right with the Lord. We must surrender our egos when He is concerned. We must not be afraid to share the bad news with the good. He already knows. He is simply waiting patiently for us to take His hand. He is always there for us. We are not alone. God expects us to trust Him with everything. He sees it not as weakness, but as strength. He wonders why His children are slow to come to Him. We must listen to His Spirit, "Render true judgments, [and] show kindness and mercy to one another."

I wrote this psalm many years ago in my attempt to understand the Lord in my life: “Jesus, on Your cross You have blessed me. God has lost all His memory, of my life lived in Sin. Oh Your death brings forgiveness and a promise I see, Yes Your light shines - New life begins. Save me, from my many temptations. When I look at my sad self, I see I've not begun, to turn to You, as I know that You want me to. Help me seek You, in my life.

Every time I turn to things that aren't desirable for me. Your angels fly over to watch and warn me, I know You won't ignore me. Your light is the light I must search for. I must look for the new life that brings peace and ends Sin. Oh Your light shines and shows me that my darkness will end, and eternal life begins.

For all my days in my old ways, You will not make me accountable. For when I seek You and turn my life on over, there's nothing insurmountable. You find it so easy to love me
even though I've strayed far from all the ways that You've shown. You have touched me and now I know the promise You keep. I will never be alone.”

Was that me or God?

I got a call from my church one morning recently to tell me that my longtime friend and church-mate had passed away.  I was asked to go to her home and check in with her family. When I got there, she was still in her bed as peaceful as could be. Her daughter said she thought her mom was ready to go and be with God.  After visiting a bit with her daughter and the hospice folks we gathered around her bed and prayed some prayers. I told her daughter that I would help in any way needed, including her mom’s funeral.

The day before the funeral, our pastor told me the part I would play and that the family had asked for me to say a few words about my friend. I thought this request would be easy to carry out for my dear friend and that I could just about do it off the top of my head right then.

I went home that afternoon and began thinking about how I would present that which was already on my mind. Nothing much changed my feelings that I could get up in church and share what I already knew and felt. So off to bed I went, seeking a peaceful night and praying for God’s guidance in my mission for my friend and her family

Just after midnight, I began dreaming and seemed to be in and out of a full sleep. As my mind turned in this state I was in, I began thinking about a folk song that was sung by a folk group trio I used to go and hear perform back in the early 1960’s. The group was the Journeymen and the song was, Run Maggie Run – (Chase the Rising Sun). I knew every word of the song and its melody. It kept going through my mind and the next thing I knew, I was altering the lyric and putting in my thoughts about my deceased friend. After an hour or so of this song racing through my mind and my adding my special lyric, I thought I’d better at least get up and type some of this down on my computer. It was about 2:00 a.m. and I carefully rolled out of bed so as not to disturb my wife.

As I cranked up my computer, I started writing down my lyrics for this tune. While I used the tune for the base of my message, I used a slightly different format and a couple of extra verses. I had actually contacted an old work mate the day before, that had taken classes from my friend in the local technical college and easily worked some of her comments into my soon to be poem remembering my old friend. My poem named, An Ode to Bobbi, was ready to go and I read it to the family and our congregation at her funeral. It goes like this:

“I sat out one morning beside my garden spring, heard my old friend Bobbi died and I began to sing. I began to sing, I began to sing, heard my old friend Bobbi died and I began to sing.

Me and my friend Bobbi laughed together all the time, Bobbi always cheered me up, as an angel she’ll be fine, as an angel she’ll be fine. Yes she’ll be fine, yes she’ll be fine, she’ll be there to cheer us up; as God’s angel she’ll be fine.

Bobbi taught good business skills to some young workmates of mine, said she was a no-nonsense gal, very professional all the time, very professional all the time. Said they learned a lot from her, they didn’t know it all, said she was a sharp dresser, like she’s going to a ball, like she’s going to a ball.

Bobbi’s sense of humor enriched many lives around; God can use that funny girl to be His Heavenly Clown, yes to be His Heavenly Clown. So, Run Bobbi run, Run Bobbi run, get everything together with God and someday we’ll be one. Run Bobbi run, Run Bobbi run, get everything together with God and someday we’ll be one.”

Fitting into God's Creation

St. Paul’s life was certainly not free of pain and suffering for the Lord. His optimism in the Lord is an example for us as we live out our lives in faith.  Paul was not always connected to our Lord Jesus.  Many of us have struggled with worldly distractions before turning our lives over to God through Jesus and trusting in Him and His Son.  St. Paul says in Romans 8:26-34: "We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose."

It takes a strong faith to forge ahead for God when we are encountered at every turn by forces that would see us fail. God promises that no matter what or who our foe, the happenings in our lives will be positioned together to work for good. How do we receive ownership in this? We must love God, listen for His call and take action on it no matter what is in our way.

Diogenes Laertius, the ancient Greek philosopher, wrote this dynamic description of  Earth and Man in his “Time is the Image of Eternity”: "Eons before man, the perpetual ebb and flow of the ocean's tides carved an ever-changing face on the spinning globe. From the ocean's depth came man and inhabited the Earth. Like the tides in which he was born he brought changes...As the seas raged against the Earth, ocean and land now fused now torn, so man met conflict. Struggle and peace became the alternating tides of history. We cannot mourn the ebbing tide, as soon the flow will rush to land.

So man has learned, eternal conflict is perpetual growth. Today's struggle is tomorrow's strength. We are part of man's perpetual renewal of strength. This strength is knowledge, accumulated for us in the course of time. So we become in our time an image of eternity mirroring all mankind. But unlike the tides controlled by the stars, we are not bound to fixed limitations. The future, a constant tide, ebbing and flowing, is ours to determine."

While this is a beautiful piece, I always take the liberty to mentally add some things that would have made it complete for me. First of all, what Diogenes is describing here is God's created Earth. The future is ours to determine good in this world.  If we love God and accept His calling according to His purposes, as St. Paul said, we will please Him and good will flow. We will, however, always have difficult challenges. At the end of our very short stay on Earth, we will lose the gift of 'free will' and God will take us to His chest. We should try to seek God every day in anticipation of that day.

It is only through great discipline that we can fend off the evil that engulfs the world and tempts us. The pressures are great for the strongest. In our faltering we give in to the secular culture. We set the bar low. As long as we don't get caught or called into judgment by the secular world, we're safe. We fool ourselves, but not God.

History is full of witnesses to the power of God over darkness, over evil. Many have testified to close encounters with God, which have moved them away from evil and changed their lives. The unbelievers put more stock in the last lottery ticket they bought than in the way of the cross.

God is at work in those who believe in Him; those who accept His grace and pray to Him. When we doubt the power of God it is usually because we cannot believe that He can work miracles through us. Our spiritual self-esteem is bankrupt. We are like the Tin Man, the Scarecrow and the Lion. We fail to realize that we possess the very qualities that we seek. We fail to understand that the only true and gentle power is the power of God. That power dwells within us. Our challenge is to recognize it and use it.

Will they know we are Christians?

I recently met with a couple of Christian friends for lunch. We asked the Lord to bless our food and we talked for about an hour about things going on in our lives and where our personal ministries for the Lord were taking us. Our waitress was very nice and took an interest in the spiritual things she heard us sharing.

As she was waiting on us, checking our need for refills and the like, we included her in our conversation. She shared about things going on in her life and her trouble in surviving on a very low hourly wage plus tips. We asked her how many hours she worked a week and what was her busiest day. She said that Sunday was her busiest day, but she disliked it the most of all her work days.

We were shocked by her answer as to why she disliked Sunday work. She said, “Lots of church people come to lunch here after their Sunday church services. They are the most rude and demanding customers I have all week. I am exhausted by the end of my Sunday shift.” In her case, a strange meaning is communicated in the words of the tune, “They will know we are Christians.”    

Going to church on Sunday does not always make us behave like good Christians when we go through the doors of the church and into the world. No matter what we might think we are doing in our activities at church, we can only be a Christian if we allow Christ to dwell in and among us.

In 2^nd Corinthians 13:5-8, St. Paul gives us a litmus test to check our action acidity in saying: ^“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?  And I trust that you will discover that we have not failed the test.  Now we pray to God that you will not do anything wrong—not so that people will see that we have stood the test but so that you will do what is right even though we may seem to have failed.  For we cannot do anything against the truth, but only for the truth.”

We find guidance in scripture to help us prepare ourselves for daily living and interaction with others. The Holy Gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is certainly a blessing to us in seeking God’s Will in our lives. As we have God’s forgiveness and deliverance from our sin, we don’t have to look back, but forward in our interaction with our fellow man. Seeking God’s Will in all that we do makes us ready to take Christian action in all of our environments with the Grace of God and His Spirit flowing into and through us.

We can make our own litmus test to see if we are preparing for and fulfilling that which we are called by God to do in this world. While we may fool ourselves, our Father recognizes immediately if the Spirit of Christ is in us. As for ourselves, we must examine our thoughts and actions regularly to be sure that they conform to God’s Will. In 2nd Peter Chapter 1, we are reminded of our gifts from God and our Savior Jesus Christ and that they are great and many.

And thus in 2^nd Peter 1:5-9, we hear: “For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love.  For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.  But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins.”

So as the song tells us that we should be one in the Spirit and one in the Lord, then “they’ll know we are Christians by our love.” This works in restaurants and at all times and places in our lives.

Seamless Life in Christ

I have a good friend and church-mate that has worked to collect and save all sorts of things about our local church’s history. He has a great interest in the details of our past history, which goes back to 1888. He recently treated our members to some excerpts from an old church newsletter that presented information about activities of church members some eighteen years ago.

Among the excerpts was a quote from an Anglican priest named George Carey, who eventually became the Archbishop of Canterbury. As such, he was the leader of the Church of England and a provider of unity for the worldwide Anglican Communion, although he had no direct authority over it.

The quotation mentioned above, is from Carey’s 1984 book title, The Church in the Market Place. In reading the quotation, I was led to ponder on the disposition of Christ’s church in this world today. He begins, “How it must break Christ's heart that his people are so scattered and divided! Oh, for men and women of love and faith to thread together the 'seamless' robe of Christ that rigidity, arrogance and intolerance tear apart. 'The nearer we come to Christ, the nearer we come together,' once said the Theologian Moltmann. It is about time we discovered that unity in him."

In thinking about now retired Archbishop Carey’s comments back in 1984, it has led me to ponder on the many ways we Christians can let the busy work of our churches get in the way of where God is leading us to fulfill His Will in us and through us in this world. In managing our churches, we sometimes lose touch with God’s mission. While prayer, study and Christian action should be driving us, many times we let disagreements and bossiness get in the way of our outreach and internal ministries.

As practicing Christians we should always trust in God. He will always surprise us when we have doubts about our ability to do something in His name. He is always there beside us and we should look for Him to do our work together with Him.

As we all know, prayer is very important and is very powerful. Whether it is prayer for the sick and needy, prayer for a church project, prayer for church outreach ministry or our own personal prayers for self, family and friends, prayer drives all things. My personal experience in prison ministry has accented my awareness of prayer. In forming a forty person team to spend three days in a State Prison with a group of 42 inmates, prayer is the fuel. Having spiritual talks, discussions, artwork and other sharing with inmates requires prayer.

We have some fifteen talks and meditations during the three days and there is always a small group of us praying in a remote room for the speaker during his talk. The prayer team prays with each speaker before his talk and after his talk. Lunch and supper are prepared off site and brought into the prison to share together each day. Team formation and preparation for such an event takes many weeks prior to the prison retreat. An effective ministry such as this runs on continuous prayer. Local and connected people all over the world participate in prayer for and during this ministry.

All of a churches inward and outward ministry must be Spirit led. Reliance on the gifts of God’s Spirit is necessary in all things. Even with today’s sophisticated ways of communicating around the world on the internet, we must rely on the Holy Spirit as our way of discerning what God expects of us and where He is leading us. We must be so much in tune with the Spirit, that we will intuitively think and do what is right in the different aspects of our lives.

Choosing Our Paths

We are fortunate to live in America, where we have some choice as to how our lives will develop. God gave us free will and free countries like America allow us lots of room to exercise our free will. While we have no specific guarantees from God or our country, we can make many choices about paths we will follow and how we will relate to the rest of humanity. One size doesn’t fit all and there are many takes on life among us.

My Brother Chuck’s life experience is one of those lives a bit different than most. He is seven years younger than me, so I had a front row seat as to how he developed from childhood. From the time he started walking, my brother was interested in nature. Back in those days, we had a milk man that delivered our milk to an insulated box on our front porch. To the milk man’s surprise, he would sometimes find frogs and lizards in the milk box when he opened it to place our milk bottles. These creatures were gifts from my brother Chuck. He put them there for safe keeping.

As Chuck continued to grow, he selected other ways to connect with nature. He had a wonderful butterfly collection as well as a leaf collection. He had an interest in sports and hiking and after high school he went to our local junior college. He happened to have a professor that had a retreat cabin in Wisconsin, some 900 miles north of the college. He gave Chuck the keys to the place and told him to go visit and check out the condition of the cabin for him.

Chuck asked a neighbor friend and classmate to go on the excursion with him. After a cold and snowy winter, the guys decided to check out other parts of the U.S. That led them to Colorado and what would be home for both of them the rest of their lives. They each married and raised families there. Brother Chuck ended up in the Log Home construction business to support him and his family, but had lots of time for recreation. His list of activities included: kayaking, mountain climbing, vertical rock and ice climbing, bicycling, and fishing to name a few. He continues all of these today at age 63 and has expanded his explorations to many parts of America, Canada, Costa Rica & Mexico.

While being a good citizen during his life, Chuck has lived a bit differently than most of us. Other than his many recreational likes, he has approached life in a way apart from the worldly interferences that distract many of us. He has avoided the pressures of society and work as much as possible. He rarely listens to or watches the news. He refers to them as the talking heads and sees the media and politics as a distraction to his life enjoying nature.  

I stumbled upon an excerpt from Henry David Thoreau’s book, Walden -or- Life in the Woods, the other day and it made me think of my brother Chuck. This book was required reading for many of us in our schooling years. Thoreau lived for two years in a self-built cabin in the forest near Walden Pond, in Concord, Massachusetts. His reason for doing this is well explained by him in the quote below. While most of us have not been led to choose the lifestyle of Chuck or the direction suggested by Thoreau, they both reflect our need for more balance and enjoyment of life.

Thoreau writes in his Walden book: “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practice resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan- like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms, and, if it proved to be mean, why then to get the whole and genuine meanness of it, and publish its meanness to the world; or if it were sublime, to know it by experience, and be able to give a true account of it in my next excursion. For most men, it appears to me, are in a strange uncertainty about it, whether it is of the devil or of God, and have somewhat hastily concluded that it is the chief end of man here to "glorify God and enjoy him forever."

Let’s enjoy God’s created gift of the Earth more and more. After all, He put us in charge! Genesis 1:28.

Realizing Our Amazing Gifts

We humans tend to take our God Given Gifts for granted. A friend of mine recently gave me some booklets with excerpts from the writings of Daniel G. Amen, M.D. The quoted book title is CHANGE YOUR BRAIN—Change Your Life. Dr. Amen is a clinical neuroscientist, psychiatrist and brain enhancement expert.  He has authored 22 books and is the medical director of the world renowned Amen Clinics.  

Like much of Science, Dr. Amen’s writings about personal issues of humans and just how complicated our brains are, can be used to better understand our God given gifts. Our lives are not accidents of nature and as our brains are described by Dr. Amen, we are unique in the universe.  While Dr. Amen practices forms of spirituality that are not acceptable to most Christians, his knowledge of the brain can certainly be used by all to better appreciate our great gift from God.

He has stated the following: “The brain is the most complicated organ in the universe. There is nothing as complex as the human brain. Nothing. It is estimated that we have 100 billion neurons or nerve cells and trillions of supportive brain cells called glial cells. Each neuron is connected to other neurons by up to 40,000 connections between cells. You have more connections in your brain than there are stars in the universe. Also, even though your brain is only about two percent of your body’s weight, it uses twenty-five to thirty percent of the calories you consume. Your brain is the major energy consumer in the body. Of the breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks you had today, almost a third went to feed your brain.” Dr. Amen also states that, “Our brain consumes 20% of the oxygen you breathe and 25% of the blood flow in your body.  

In Dr. Amen’s pamphlet BRAIN HEALTH—Master Questionnaire, he lists some fifty things that impact humans mentally. While few if any of us are impacted by all these conditions, we might all have been impacted occasionally or briefly by them. I don’t have room to list all fifty in this column, but here are a few: “lack attention to detail, are easily distracted, are restless, are negative, feel sad, feel bored, have low self esteem, feel socially isolated, feel upset when things do not go your way, worry, hold grudges, have a short fuse and lastly, wait for something bad to happen.”  That’s thirteen of the list of fifty. Dr. Amen’s work is excellent in helping folks with their brain health.

While I see the value of Dr. Amen’s work, reading some of his writings strengthens my faith in God and His ability to create us children with such complicated parts. The abilities of our brains make us different from all creation. We had to be created like this to be able to fulfill His charge for us to manage His created Planet Earth.

Genesis 1: 26-28 explains it this way,  “ Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’  So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.’”

We are special in this world; however, we must realize our God given gifts and use them to understand His creative intent in putting us in charge of what He created. We matter to God. We don’t need to let Him or ourselves down.

Our Place in Creation

Once we decide to let go and let God act in our lives, we come to understand life in many different ways. We find God in the smallest pieces of creation that we missed in our past. When we seek to understand God in our lives, we are humbled by how limited we are in all of man’s achievements compared to God’s creative power. That which man has been able to understand about God’s created Universe is as small as a mustard seed compared to His work in creation.

Although the abilities of our minds to understand creation are limited, it is still a great gift we’ve been given by God that puts us above all creatures of the Earth. God has given man the sense to be drawn to those things that are a mystery to us, and the desire to unwind what we can’t understand. The danger in all of this is to become inebriated with what we can achieve and think we are on a level with our creator.

When man gets to the point where he thinks himself an expert on what is true in this world, he sets himself up for a calamity. He is ignoring the fact that it is God who is helping him find solutions. God acts quietly in our lives behind the scenes and has a helpful and generous plan in all things.

As human beings in our small part of God’s creation, we sometimes let our egos take charge and think that we have control over things. This is a trap we set for ourselves, that keeps us from fully enjoying all living humans and the gift of nature that God has given us. Much worse is a person not connected with our Creator God and thus is doomed to a life unfulfilled and meaningless. When it’s all boiled down, we are called to live our lives for others, and make this world a better place.

Our inborn need to be curious and question things of life is another gift from God. When we observe the Cosmos around us and think about life and the possibility of eternal life, our minds race in the processing of these marvelous jewels around us. We are humbled by these things and are drawn closer to God day by day as we attempt to unravel the blessings of life.

The more things we can ponder in this Godly creation, the closer we come to knowing God. Discoveries of science shouldn’t make us feel more in control, but more humble and connected with God’s Eternal Kingdom. Science and religion can go hand in hand when science is used to better understand God’s creative power and love for us little specs on Planet Earth.

The problem with misused science is that it gives man the ability to build weapons of mass destruction to be use to kill each other. So much talent and intellect is used in these efforts that could be used to bring peace to the world in appreciation of the gift all mankind has been given.

As true worshippers of God, we must live out the goodness and righteousness God expects of us. We are called to love one another and when followed by all religions, the world will be an even more beautiful place. Just thinking about these things won’t move us very far in reaching our desired condition for the world.

Of course there is evil in this world as God has given us free will. We can use our religion, our attempt to seek God in all aspects of our lives, to reach out to others and live our lives for them. There is work involved here, but we are not in it alone. When a difficult job seems easy, it’s because God is somewhere nearby.  

God is patient

We should be thankful that God does not operate like the folks in the fairs and carnivals that take your good money to play a game that is almost impossible to win. The phrase they shout at their clientele when ninety-nine percent of them can’t win the game is, “Close, but no cigar!”  This phrase goes back one hundred years when these fair and carnival workers would offer special cigars as prizes to those that could win the game.

God has a different kind of operation with us. He wants one-hundred percent of us to win His prize. That prize is salvation and an eternal relationship with Him as we live this natural life and pass on to a closer presence to Him. In John 5:24 we hear Jesus tell us, “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life. 

When in the Temple, Jesus addressed the Jews that doubted His relationship to God. He told them of the children of God and in John 10:28 He says, ^“And I give them eternal life and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.” Peter refreshes our spirit in 1 Peter 1:6-9 saying, “ In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials,  that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, whom having not seen, you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith—the salvation of your souls.”

As a struggling Christian growing up, I had some notion of being with God after death in my natural life. I remember things that my mother and other relatives would say about death when we lost someone. When I was fourteen, I came home from school one day to hear my younger brother tell me, as I got off of the school bus, that our dad had died of a heart attack. He was thirty-nine years of age. With my dad and other family members who have died, I have always had a sense of spiritual connection with them. This was a beginning of knowing that any suffering that I might endure would somehow be eased in a spiritual afterlife.

In my experience of a life threatening brain tumor removal at age forty-nine, God revealed some wonderful things to me. He allowed me to look into eternity with Him from my hospital bed. I then realized that I was already on the fringe of His eternal kingdom. His forgiveness of my sins, which I was already feeling, and my faith in Him had opened His kingdom to me. I had the distinct feeling that no matter what the outcome of my surgery, that I would be blessed. And in seeing this as my gift from God, I could see the same gift for all of those I might leave behind.

I had a vision of Eternal Life as I was experiencing God’s Love & Grace during my surgery. I envisioned Eternal life to be like the ocean. The ocean waves moved toward the shore around the jetties and onto the beach. The shallow water of the beach is where I saw myself in this natural life, however; God’s Eternal Kingdom washed upon me at the beach. It revealed to me that we are already at the edges of Eternal Life and it washes over and around us. If we don’t realize that the surf on the beach is God’s spirit washing over us, we are stuck on the beach and don’t enjoy His Kingdom.

I will never be the same. I am sure of what lies ahead for me, so the troubles of today are easy to bear. I want all of my brothers and sisters in the Lord to be as happy as I am.  In Mark 12:32-34, when Jesus responded to a Scribe’s question as to what is the first commandment of all, the scribe said to Him, “’Well said, Teacher. You have spoken the truth, for there is one God, and there is no other but He. And to love Him with all the heart, with all the understanding, with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself, is more than all the whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.’  Now when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, He said to him, ‘You are not far from the kingdom of God.’”  Now, that’s not a close, but no cigar statement, but a close and keep on reaching for God statement. 

Fear Not - Listen Much

Jesus spoke to Peter as Peter's fear caused him to sink into the water. Seeing Jesus walking on the water Peter asked to come with Him. Jesus commanded him to come but the strong wind frightened Peter and he began to sink. Jesus said, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?" (Matthew 14:22-33 NRSV). How often do we cry out to come to Jesus and get faint hearted and distracted before we get there?

A reading from scripture or a meditation might inspire us. The Sunday morning sermon may cause us to say, "What a coincidence, the preacher is talking about the very thing that I need to do in my life to resolve my situation." The unfortunate thing is that many times we falter as we try to respond to the inspiration. Like the strong wind that distracted Peter, things can distract us and keep us from fulfilling the message that God sends to us through a life event.

In matters of Faith there is no such thing as being "in over your head". In the natural life there are times when we're put down or rejected because we've tried to move beyond our skills and talents. God's only requirement is that we turn to him and have faith in him. Smart or dumb, rich or poor, the fare is faith.

I often tell a childhood story about my inability to catch a baseball that was hit high in the air. I would become unfocused and nervous as I waited for the ball to come down. I just couldn't keep my eyes on the ball. By the time the ball was near to the ground my quandary was that either I would miss catching the ball altogether or it would hit me in the head. Instead of being a part of the game I was reduced to being a target.

It's so easy to take our eyes off of Jesus. During a spiritual mission in my home church community a number of years ago, Canon Bryan Greene of England told a group of us, "Don't think that salvation is in doing the busy work around the church. That will get you nowhere." He told us that there is only one thing that we should do. He said to us, "Keep your eyes on Christ!"

Many would like to blame their times of struggle on someone else. Our parents seem to be easiest to blame for our problems, however; in Ezekiel 18:1-4 we are told: "...The parents have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge...this proverb shall no more be used by you... "

The Lord goes on to say, "Know that all lives are mine; the life of the parent as well as the life of the child is mine; it is only the person who sins that shall die". It is comforting to know that God does not hold us responsible for another's sin. Our children are not accountable for our sins and we are not accountable for their sins. This the Lord revealed to Ezekiel.

On another level, however, we must be responsible for what we are teaching and modeling for our own and future generations. We are called to share the Lord with our children and all those that we contact. We are called to live and share the life of Christ. Many times and in unique ways a child can teach the parent something about the Godly life. It is ultimately, however, the individual's responsibility to keep God's law.

Living and sharing the Gospel is what is important in life. It is what God is calling us to do. What does our lifestyle communicate to our children, to our friends and neighbors? This is where the work is. Our own personal discipline to keep our eyes on Christ is the key. It's no coincidence that disciple and discipline share the same first seven letters.

And the Good News is that through Christ's crucifixion and atonement for our sin, we can start anew. When we turn to the Lord and dedicate our lives to Him, our loving and guiding creator, Ezekiel reminds us that God does not remember our sins. Let us never turn back to our old and sinful ways.

And I pray: ‘Heavenly Father, help me to live and reflect Your essence. Give me the strength to discipline my life in You. Prepare me to be Your influence in the lives of all those I touch. Give me the courage to take a stand for You and make it my own. Give me the courage to be bold in the world for You. In the name of Your Son our Savior Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, I pray. AMEN’

Doubting God

A lifelong friend recently asked me, “What did Jesus mean when he said ‘Father, Why have you forsaken me.’ If Jesus could doubt God, surely sometimes we can too and still love him. I tell my wife of 45 years sometimes I have doubts about her. She doesn’t like it and says after 45 years of marriage and 5 years of dating you sometimes have doubts about me? I say yes I do.”

The following is my answer to his question: In order for God to communicate more directly with his people, He sent Jesus in human form. Jesus was the Son of God & the Son of Man. He had to live His life as both, which was tough for him. Many of his words on the Cross reflect and connect back to Psalm 22, including "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me."

Jesus was sent by God to take on the sins of the whole world. At that moment on the cross in taking on our sin, it was such a load that for one moment He was separated from God with that load of sin upon Him. Jesus had to doubt God a bit so we could understand the magnitude of God's Sacrifice for us.

It is through the suffering of Jesus that we are made whole in knowing what God was willing to put Himself through in the suffering of Jesus. Our Father died for us through Christ, which is the largest sacrifice a Father could make for His children. All of Jesus’ suffering and even His questioning of His Father only make clear what God was willing to do for us.

Having said that, we must realize that we children of God do have times when we doubt God. Jesus doubted God for a few seconds in His burden that we will never see the likes of in our lives. Because of our human nature, we like to be in control and many times wonder why God is leading us or not leading us in the direction we think He should lead us. It always gets back to the question as to how attentive we are in listening to God and how much our desires cloud God’s wishes for us.

In Jeremiah 29:11-13 we are reminded of God’s intentions: “‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.’” And then in Proverbs 3:5-7 we hear: “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD and shun evil.”

God does not have an on and off switch that we can use at our discretion. It’s our own personal switch we use to turn Him on and off. God’s switch is always on. Therefore, it’s up to us to keep our internal switch for Him in the “on” position as much as possible. When we do that, we minimize the doubt that sometimes comes upon us.

The classic doubting story in the Bible concerns the doubting of 100 year old Abraham and 90 year old Sarah. In their doubting that God could bring forth a child in Sarah’s womb, whose name would be Isaac, son of Abraham, God said to them in Genesis 18:14: “Is anything too hard for the LORD? I will return to you at the appointed time next year and Sarah will have a son.”

While we may not have the kind of close conversations with the Lord that Abraham and Sarah had, we need to seek Him as much as possible in every aspect of our lives. Sarah even laughed to herself as she overheard God in His conversation with Abraham in telling him that Sarah would have a child at the age of 90. Her doubt is like our doubt in that we don’t trust God and His leadership in our lives. What seems like reality to use is far from that which God is able to do in our lives.

God has lifted our burden with His sacrifice for us. Jesus took on our burden of sin and should convince us that any doubting of God is useless.

God's Free Ammo!

Some of us older folks remember a song inspired by the attack on Pearl Harbor and the U.S. involvement in World War II. This patriotic song written by Frank Loesser has been mistakenly attributed to others as it became a battle cry of many soldiers. This song entitled "Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition" is about a chaplain that is with some sailors under air attack.

When he is asked to say a prayer for those sailors engaged in battle, he laid down his Bible and took charge of one of the ship’s guns. As he started firing the gun at the attacking planes, he starts singing, “Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition and we’ll all stay free.”

God’s plan for His children was certainly not for us to go to battle with each other and kill each other in our inability to get along in this world. God speaks to us through the Words of Jesus in the Gospel of John 13:34-35: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.  By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

This spiritual battle for the Lord is not one that requires us to lie down and let the evil of the world tramp on us. Yes, Jesus tells us to turn the other check and be slapped yet again and to forgive our enemies. Due to the complicated nature of knowing when and if to defend ourselves, we will not discuss it here, but recommend you do your own research for clarification. Isaiah 14:5-7 certainly describes God’s own battle against the evil of the world.

God’s idea of spiritual battle is that we should be soldiers of the cross, accepting and spreading Christ’s Kingdom around the world. This is a battle where the ammunition is the Word of God and the love that He wants His children to have for each other. If you don’t think this is a battle, just look around the world and view the never ending hatred some have for others. Hatred that turns to taking the lives of others for ungodly purposes. As we see in our world, there are bad against good and bad against bad in this refusal to love one another.

Psalm 150:1-6 teaches all of us in saying: “Praise the Lord! Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens! Praise him for his mighty deeds; praise him according to his excellent greatness! Praise him with trumpet sound; praise him with lute and harp! Praise him with tambourine and dance; praise him with strings and pipe! Praise him with sounding cymbals; praise him with loud clashing cymbals!”

How could we possibly praise God in the way spoken in Psalm 150, yet turn against His Word and hate others. There are too many citizens and leaders in this world that don’t connect with God in a way that calls them to love others. If they claim a God that allows hatred and murder, he is a false god. As Christians, we believe in one Creator God and we must discount any claims of another. We must forgive others, but not join them in their ungodly or false godly hatred and killing. We must praise God and pass the spiritual ammunition.”  

In 2 Timothy 4:6-8, Paul talks about the Godly battle in his life in saying: “For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing.”

So we get medals, even a crown, in seeking God in our lives, not waging a worldly battle, but a Godly fighting of the good fight in Him. Paul informs us further in Galatians 4:8, ^“But then, indeed, when you did not know God, you served those which by nature are not gods. And continues in Romans 8:31b ^“If God is for us, who can be against us? So the question for us becomes: How is our ammo supply for praising the Lord and passing it on to others?

St. Paul, Our Instructor

I have a friend that thinks the New Testament of the Bible should be called the gospel of Paul. My friend is critical of that Testament because he thinks St. Paul overpowers the Word of God in the Gospel of Jesus. He thinks Paul dominates the New Testament too much.
                                               

I disagree with my friend. The Word of God, the Gospel of Jesus is quite sufficient to inform us about that which God expects of us in our lives. St. Paul serves as the guide as to how we understand and integrate the Gospel of Jesus into our lives. If other folks are like me, I always try to assemble a product before I’ve read the instructions. I think that the list of parts, and what they do, is enough for me to know as I start assembling the product I will depend on.

If our New Testament was without the letters of St. Paul, we would know the main parts of the Gospel and what they’re supposed to do in our lives, but we’d be blind on how to make the Gospel work for us. St. Paul helps us understand just how we can use and benefit from the Gospel of Jesus Christ.    

Let’s take a look at a portion of Paul’s guidance for us in Philippians 4:1-9: "Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

My goal is to be able to live Paul's exhortation as given here to the Philippians. I want to get up every morning shouting it. I want to have it on my lips at midday. I want to sing myself to sleep with it at night. Rejoice in the Lord! Make me gentle! I know that You are near, Lord! I shall not worry! I humbly make my requests to You in prayer with thanksgiving! Your peace will guard my heart and mind in Christ Jesus!

My life is a song to the Lord. And like Him it has no beginning and no end. It is the first thing on my lips and the last each day. I have been touched deeply by His Spirit and I cannot forget what He has shown me. In my time of trial he held me up. He carried me through my chaotic journey. He restored me inside and out. He was there when nothing else would do. He protected me before I knew I was threatened. I praise Him in all things, for only He can solve the puzzle and see the answers.

He disciplines me behind His woodshed regularly. I am better when I return. Knowing Him makes my life more difficult, for now I have a way to measure how I'm doing in His name. His gentleness teaches me the way to treat my brothers and sisters. His peace does surpass all understanding. He makes me want to go with Him, but he has work right here for me to do. I mustn't think of any job as too large or too small that He desires to have me take ownership in.

St. Paul told Titus in his letter to him (2:1-15): "For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all, training us to renounce impiety and worldly passions, and in the present age to live lives that are self-controlled, upright, and godly, while we wait for the blessed hope and the manifestation of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ."

The Twenty-third Psalm reveals the Shepherd nature of our Lord and gives us, His Sheep, the confidence that He is always with us. When we live life with this blessing, keeping Him foremost in our thoughts and prayers, we can be His disciples in this world.

Anger is as Anger does!

We’ve been taught that anger is not a good thing. However; it’s hard for us to go immediately to forgiveness when someone has made us very angry. Anger is not a good state for us to be in, but it’s hard for us to control it when we’ve been wronged by someone. After all, even Jesus had times of anger with people.

In John 2:13-22 we are reminded of a very angry Jesus: “Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.  And He found in the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers doing business. When He had made a whip of cords, He drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the changers’ money and overturned the tables.  And He said to those who sold doves, “Take these things away! Do not make My Father’s house a house of merchandise!”  Ok, I guess it’s alright for us to be angry about things and people. Well, maybe not. Jesus’ anger was because of a disregard for God’s house. Most times, our anger is not based on something that is directly connected to God.

We must forgive others as soon as possible after our anger has reached its peak. Our anger actually turns inward upon us and causes us to be ashamed of ourselves and to realize that our anger has actually cut us off from God’s love. The longer we stay angry, the deeper we become separated from God. It turns a situation of feeling justified in our anger to one of self punishment. It makes us incapable of love and acceptance of love, only making a bad situation worse.

It is unlikely that in this natural world we might never experience anger. It’s going to come, so we’d better be prepared for it. The more we love and enjoy another person, the greater the impact it has on our relationship with them. It’s a bit easier to be angry at someone we don’t know well. The consequences escalate, the deeper our relationship.  How then do we resolve a situation of anger toward another?

You’ve heard people say, “I can forgive them, but I can’t forget what they did.” That sounds reasonable, but God wants more from us. When possible, God wants us not only to forgive, but to be reconciled with the person and be in God’s community as partners again. When we are angry at someone, we tend to focus totally on what they did and not who they really are. This narrow focus makes it harder to forgive and reconcile with that person.

One of the mistakes we make when another has angered us is to try to recruit others to our side of the situation, which only causes more problems in our community.  An attempt to circle the community against the other person only complicates things and serves no one any benefit. Of course, if others hear of the discord on their own and form their own opinion, our forgiveness and reconciliation of the person becomes an even greater need for the community.

In Scripture, Luke 15: 11-32, a good example of forgiveness is the parable of the Prodigal Son, which we are all familiar with. The father ordered the fatted calf killed to be eaten in celebration for the return of his wayward son to the disgruntlement of the son that kept serving his father in the fields while his brother wasted his inheritance. Now that’s forgiveness and reconciliation. The father did not focus on the sons misdeeds, but instead celebrated the son’s life and his return.

 In the event that we have been so severely hurt by someone’s actions that reconciliation is difficult, we should wait and pray for a time when it makes sense to rejoin our brother or sister. If we are seeking God in our lives, He will lead us in a direction that will be most beneficial under the circumstances.

Forgiving others is difficult sometimes, but forgiving ourselves usually proves to be the most difficult. Not forgiving another or our self provides Satan with a great opportunity. We play right into his hands every time we are so convinced by principle that our un-forgiveness is justified. Are we to, "be outwitted by Satan"?  

Comfort in Seeking God

We live in a world where the righteous, that is the morally right and virtuous, are in the minority. For those who seek the Lord and His Righteousness in their lives, the story in Genesis 18 is certainly a relief in this immoral world. When speaking to the Lord about the sin in Sodom and Gomorrah, Abraham asks a series of questions as to the sparing of the city according to how many righteous versus unrighteous live there.

When Abraham gets to the least amount of righteous the Lord would spare the city for, the Lord still replies in verses 32 and 33, “Then he said, “Let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak but once more: Suppose ten should be found there? And He said, “I will not destroy it for the sake of ten.”  So the Lord went His way as soon as He had finished speaking with Abraham; and Abraham returned to his place.”

In the world we live in today, we take some comfort that the Lord won’t destroy it due to the small percentage of righteous folks. Of course in our time, man is coming closer and closer to being able to destroy his neighbor, which could set off a chain reaction with man destroying the world, this wonderful gift from God.

Since we have little or no control over what the rest of the world will do with their lives, we are called in Matthew 6:33-34, “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” We certainly hope that others will follow this advice as well.

Assuming we are not as morally right and virtuous as we should be, we must have a plan. The Lord may not destroy a city with as few as ten righteous, however, we must seek Him and His Righteousness daily to understand His path for us in this life.

Now we begin to think about bad things happening to good people and how that fits into the greater picture of living and the promise of eternal life. While God said He would not destroy Sodom and Gomorrah if there were only ten righteous people there, He wasn’t saying that people wouldn’t have bad things happen to them whether righteous or unrighteous.

We must seek God in our lives so we will know Him better and He can communicate with us in His Will for the world and for our part in that. We do not live our lives on our own until we die and then hook up with God. We should be seeking communication with God daily if not minute by minute. When we do this, our relationship with God carries us through all things, even the bad things. When our skin and bones drop off at what we call death, our spirit continues in the relationship that we have been seeking with our Creator God on into eternity. We can’t be certain how that will work out if we never get to know Him in our natural lives.

In Jeremiah 29:13 God reveals to us, “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” Our relationship with our Creator is not meant to be a casual affair. We can’t afford to get into the “put off” mode. There may be many things in life that we can “put off”; however, seeking God in our lives continuously is not one of them. God leaves it up to us to make that decision. His love for us, His children, should be enough to draw us to Him.

In Psalm 121:1-2 the psalmist says, “I lift up my eyes to the mountains—From whence comes my help? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.”  Exodus 15:2 further exclaims: “The Lord is my strength and my song; He has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will praise him, the God of my father, and I will exalt him.”

In Proverbs 28:9 we are a bit shaken by God’s strong words: “If one turns away his ear from hearing My teachings, even his prayer is not heard.” Let’s hope we can all seek the Lord our God in our lives and profit from it.