Questions and Answer(s)

It’s not that I question God. I don’t.

Well, maybe I do.

Like just now as I’m reading through the Psalms (9):

“Arise, oh Lord, do not let the man prevail; Let the nations be judged before you. Put them in fear, oh Lord; Let the nations know that they are but men.”

And that psalm reminded me of a text in Isaiah chapter 64: “Oh, that You would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains might quake at Your presence.”

I mean, with all the demonic-inspired evil here in the States and overseas, I sure don’t understand His apparent silence. 

I like to think if God opened the earth like He did during Korah’s rebellion (Numbers 16) when the earth swallowed him, his family and all those who joined his rebellion against Moses .... if that happened today—we’d probably see some changes in our culture and our world. 

Or, would we?

If I remember correctly, it didn’t take 24 hours after the earth swallowed Korah and the others before Israel was grumbling and finding fault with God all over again.

Yes, sometimes, like tonight as I’m reading the psalms, I get to wondering why God does what He does — and, honestly, wishing He’d do things like He used to do. 

Then again, maybe His answer to me would be the same as He gave to His disciples who said to Him, “shall we call fire down from heaven and consume the Samaritans?”

If you remember the story, Jesus rebuked them and said, “The Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.” (Paraphrased from Luke 9:51-56)

Yes, I have lots of questions - and not many answers. But if nothing else, reading the Scriptures sure gives me opportunity to think about how life in the 21st-century is so similar to life in the first century. Same questions, but always the same answer: “God is in heaven and on His throne. Let all the earth be silent before Him.” (see Habakkuk 2:20)

And He reminds me again: He is God. I am not. 

All My Hopes?

During my time with the Lord this morning, these lyrics floated through my mind.  Some of you may know the hymn:

"All to Jesus I surrender,
All to Him I freely give;
I will ever love and trust Him,
In His presence daily live.
I surrender all, I surrender all.
All to Thee, my blessed Savior,
I surrender all."

Intuitively, I knew the words and its message were in response to a question I asked myself a moment earlier – a question I've asked myself many, many times during the last decades:

“When my plans fall apart, when my hopes lie shattered, when my dreams never materialize, when my prayers remain unanswered – can I still say with my heart as well as my mouth – “I surrender all’?

All my plans. All my hopes. All my dreams. All my unanswered prayers.

Lord Jesus, help me in my reluctance to surrender them all into Your hands. And to leave them there.

45 Years

I've posted this several times. Today is 45 years since my story began.

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Christmas Eve 1972. Forty-five years ago today. I remember the day as if it happened only a few weeks ago.

I still see myself kneeling at the side of my bunk in Barracks M, above the chow hall on the Yokosuka Naval Base in Japan. I’d recently finished Hal Lindsay’s, The Late Great Planet Earth. His references to Jesus the Messiah in my Jewish Bible amazed me. No, that is not the correct word. His references astounded me.

In all my life – I was 22 at the time – I never remembered opening a Bible, and certainly had never heard of the many prophecies in my Bible that referred to Jesus. Isaiah 7, Isaiah 53, Daniel 7, Zechariah 12, Psalm 22, Psalm 16, Jeremiah 31, Micah 5, Deuteronomy 18 are just a few that come immediately to mind. But there they were, pulsating on the pages as I read his book.

Still skeptical, I walked the two blocks to the base chapel and asked the Jewish chaplain if I could borrow a Bible. I took it back to my room to verify the texts Lindsay quoted were actually there, in my Jewish Bible.

They were.

I never thought forty-five years ago my life would take the twists and turns it has taken, each twist and each turn leading me ultimately to this place and time on December 24, 2017 as I post these words. But it all began as I knelt by my bunk in Barracks M. The Holy Spirit, having shown me through my Jewish Bible the truth about sin and judgment, but also about mercy and forgiveness, I stared at the clouds beyond my window and said to God, “I believe Jesus is the Messiah.”

Six words. But unspoken in those six words, yet resolute in my heart as I spoke them, was my promise to God of my commitment to Him. I didn’t know the prayer of St. Ignatius of Loyola at the time:

"Take, O Lord, and receive my entire liberty, my memory, my understanding and my whole will. All that I am and all that I possess You have given me: I surrender it all to You to be disposed of according to Your will. Give me only Your love and Your grace; with these I will be rich enough, and will desire nothing more. Amen . . ."

But I meant every syllable in the six words I spoke. And to this day, forty-five years later, I have tried my best to live according to the unspoken intent of those six words.

Have I failed Him in those years? Many times. Has God forgiven me, reconciled me, redirected me? Every time I confessed my failure. Every time.

Forty-five years. Over and over and again and again I have fallen to my knees and re-committed myself to my God and Savior.

The point of this story is not, however, about me. It is about you.

How long has it been since YOU said to God something similar to St. Ignatius’ prayer: "Take, O Lord, and receive my entire liberty, my memory, my understanding and my whole will. All that I am and all that I possess You have given me: I surrender it all to You to be disposed of according to Your will. Give me only Your love and Your grace; with these I will be rich enough, and will desire nothing more. Amen"?

This is Christmas Eve. If you’ve never done it, why not do it now? If you’ve done it many times, why not do it again? What better gift this Christmas could you give to yourself, your family, your community . . .

And to God?

What Kind of Faith?

I always find this vignette in Acts 19 instructive:

“But also some of the Jewish exorcists, who went from place to place, attempted to name over those who had the evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, “I adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preaches.” Seven sons of one Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. And the evil spirit answered and said to them, “I recognize Jesus, and I know about Paul, but who are you?” And the man, in whom was the evil spirit, leaped on them and subdued all of them and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.” (verses 13-16)

If our faith in Christ is not a personal faith, then it is nothing more than a bit of trivial knowledge. If our faith is rooted only in what we have heard of Him from others – and not in what He Himself has taught us as we’ve sat at His feet in prayer and study of Scripture, then we do nothing more than imitate Sceva’s seven sons.

They relied on their impersonal and 'hand-me-down' knowledge of Christ – and it resulted in complete failure.

Fast forward 2100 years. Nothing is different about Christ-centered faith today. Only a personal faith and relationship with Jesus grants us the authority to overcome the darkness in our own lives -- and through prayer, the darkness in the lives of others.

The Christmas season is a great time to reexamine ourselves. What kind of relationship do we have with Jesus?

And what must we do to make it better?

Don't Look Back

I read Luke 17 this morning. The context is the second Advent when the Lord returns. I encourage you to read the entire chapter – and then focus on verse 32: “Remember Lot’s wife.”

You’ll remember what she did after the angels nearly dragged her, Lot, and their two daughters away from Sodom.

One reason I appreciate the lyrics of this song (below) is they encourage me to keep on keeping on. We always face the temptation to ‘look back’ with a desire to ‘go back’. Life is too often too complicated, too wearisome, too frustrating that it is often too easy to long for days and places that were once so familiar and comfortable.

Christian: Keep on keeping on, fixing our eyes and heart on Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-4nl-UrgkU

Don't Leave Home Without Him

I never knew I had an anterior cruciate ligament. But I received my lesson in human anatomy as I rounded third and sprinted toward the plate. A few yards down the third base line my right knee popped. It felt like an unseen hand ripped my leg in two. I toppled to the dirt, in too much pain to move.   

The surgeon said we should wait a few days for the swelling to subside before repairing my injury. He sent me home with crutches.

The anterior cruciate ligament -- also known as the ACL -- is a band of tissue located behind the knee. Its chief purpose is to stabilize the leg by fastening the top and bottom together. If the ACL tears, the knee easily shifts out of position during normal activities like walking or running.

I didn’t like using crutches. I felt uncoordinated as I hobbled down the sidewalk. Maneuvering from the living room to the kitchen was more trouble than I wanted to endure. Climbing stairs was out of the question. Within two hours of returning home, I put the crutches aside.

“I don’t need these things,” I groused before going to bed. “I can get by just fine without ‘em.”

The next morning, I crawled out from under the covers and stood carefully at the bedside, testing my knee. It felt sore, but nothing I couldn’t handle.  I showered, dressed and wolfed down my breakfast. I ignored the crutches as I walked out the door.

When I stepped off the sidewalk, my knee buckled. If the car hadn’t broken my fall, I’d have fallen to the ground. A few minutes later, I hobbled back into the house to retrieve my crutches.

Over the last forty-five years, as I’ve shared my faith in Christ with others, I’ve heard the refrain so often, “Religion is a crutch,” I wonder if it isn’t subliminally scripted into our subconscious.  What people most often mean is, “Believing in Almighty God is no different than being weak and dependent on something.” 

Coming from the lips of men and women whose spiritual injuries sometimes defy description, I shake my head in bewilderment.  In the face of overwhelming troubles and heartache, of illnesses, and loneliness, or the death of loved ones, and on and on it goes, some people still stubbornly cling to their pride and walk out the door without support. Others, hobbled by crippling disabilities like drunkenness, drug addiction, uncontrollable sexual lusts, and any number of spiritual injuries, still crow, “I don’t need crutches. I can get by fine without ‘em.”

I’ve learned (and still need a reminder now and then) it’s good to have Someone to lean on. The game changes too quickly. One moment I’m sprinting toward home, the next, I’m writhing in the dirt, eating my pride.

I am not ashamed to admit it. I need a crutch. I need Christ’s strong hand of support and soft words of comfort. I need a rock upon which to stand and a Savior to hold me fast.

I learned the truth a long time ago: Don’t leave home without Him. Or, more to the point: Don’t live your life without Him.

A Supernatural Gift

I am a Pentecostal Christian. A charismatic Catholic. For more than four decades I've believed in the Biblical truth of the baptism of the Holy Spirit as manifested in what many call "speaking in tongues."

I routinely pray in tongues.

However, I don’t know why in those earlier years I DID NOT believe in another – and supremely important – gift of the Holy Spirit – the one promised by the Lord Jesus in the last half of John 6. I’m referring to the changing of bread into the very Body of Christ, and the wine into the very Blood of Christ.

Over the years I’ve found great peace and comfort and spiritual strength while exercising my supernatural prayer language. And I am so very sorry that I did not know in those early years that I could find additional peace and comfort and strength in receiving the Eucharist.

I missed a lot.

Potiphar, Joseph -- and Us

I’ve read Genesis dozens of times, but this time I noticed something for the first time in the story of Joseph and Potiphar. Not that it is of any great theological importance, but what I saw caught my attention for a few moments. You’ll find the vignette in chapters 39-41.

In 39:1, Potiphar is called “captain of [Pharaoh’s] bodyguard”  – a position similar to the Chief of the U.S. President’s Secret Service.

Potiphar had purchased Joseph as his slave, and eventually, Joseph rose to what we might call, “Head Butler” of Potiphar’s household. If you remember the story, in time, Potiphar’s wife falsely accused Joseph of attempted rape and Potiphar threw Joseph into prison (it is of interest that Potiphar did not have Joseph executed.

(It’s has been theorized that Potiphar did not believe his wife’s accusation, but could not take the word of a slave against his wife’s. But that is another discussion).

So, Joseph is now in prison where the jail’s warden soon put Joseph into a position of rank among the prisoners. You’d think that by this time Potiphar was done with the guy and had forgotten all about him. But that doesn’t seem to be the case.

In 40:4, “the captain of [Pharaoh’s] bodyguard” (Potiphar) put Joseph in charge of two recently incarcerated special prisoners (Pharaoh’s personal chef and butler). Apparently, Potiphar was not only still keeping tabs on Joseph, but he considered him worthy of supervising those special prisoners.

Then in 41:12 – which occurs two full years later—Joseph is still called “a servant of the captain of the bodyguard” (i.e. Potiphar).

As I said, this likely has little theological value – at least, none that I can see – but I’d never noticed that Potiphar seemed to have a continued ‘trusting’ relationship with Joseph all those years, even after his wife’s false charges.

Maybe 39:21 holds a key. It occurs after Potiphar throws Joseph into prison. The text reads: “But the Lord was with Joseph and extended kindness to him, and gave him favor in the sight of the chief jailer.”

Perhaps there is a theological point after all: Trust God. Always do the right thing. God will forever stand by your side.

Only Five Books

Everyone who regularly reads my posts knows that I strongly encourage reading the entire bible through year after year. But I got to thinking the other day that there are probably many who find that idea too daunting to even begin the journey.

So, perhaps I should simplify things – anything to inspire 100% of those who read my posts to set themselves to regularly read God’s word and, thereby, learn how to better walk with the Savior.

Here, then, is my simplified suggestion:

Set for yourself a goal for the next 12 months, until November 19, 2018 (or whatever date you read this blog post), to read only the following five books of the New Testament: The Gospel of Matthew, the Gospel of John, the book of Romans, the book of Galatians, and the book of Colossians.

That’s it. Five books of the 27 books in the New Testament.

Each day as you begin the day’s reading, ask the Holy Spirit what He wants you to know in that day’s reading.

Reading those five books should not be a sprint. Plan for it to take a year to read them. But in your reading, it will be important to reflect – even ruminate – on verses or paragraphs that arouse your interest. Listen as the Holy Spirit speaks to you.

It will be a year well spent.

(By the way, there are many, many One-Year Bible reading plans available on the internet. Search key words such as: One Year Bible Reading.  Also, if you are interested in reviewing the One-Year Bible Reading Plan I devised, here is the link: 

http://thecontemplativecatholicconvert.blogspot.com/2016/09/bible-reading-plan-revised-sept-2016.html

Be Careful Little Eyes

 Many adults raised in church probably learned this song as children:

O be careful little eyes what you see

O be careful little eyes what you see

For the Father up above

Is looking down in love,

So, be careful little eyes what you see

O be careful little ears what you hear

O be careful little ears what you hear

For the Father up above

Is looking down in love,

So, be careful little ears what you hear

O be careful little feet where you go

O be careful little feet where you go

For the Father up above

Is looking down in love,

So, be careful little feet where you go

I was raised in a Jewish home, so I never heard the song until, as an adult, I met Messiah Jesus. Then, when I married Nancy a few years later, we volunteered to teach 2^nd grade Sunday School classes. The simple song became part of our curriculum.

I thought of the lyrics the other day as I read through St. Paul’s letter to the Galatians:

Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. (Galatians 6:7-8)

In other words: “Be careful little eyes, and ears, and feet.”

The promise – and the warning – are usually lost on young and innocent minds. But the promise and warning in Paul’s letter is more apparent to the adult. If we sow to our fleshly lusts, we will reap poisonous fruit. If we sow to Christ’s Spirit within us, we will reap a life-giving harvest.

It’s a simple – and flawless – equation.

“Bad company corrupts good morals,” the Holy Spirit tells us through the apostle Paul (1 Corinthians 15:33). Later, to the same church, God warned: “Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness? Or what harmony has Christ with Belial, or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever?” (2 Corinthians 6:14-15)

Christian, be careful. Do not let down your guard. The promise and the warning of that simple children’s song, and of the text in Galatians 6, is as absolute as the law of gravity.

Not Take it or Leave It

“You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.” (Jeremiah 29:13)

I just read the vignette in Mark’s gospel about the woman who’d been bleeding for 12 years. It’s a story probably familiar to many of you. Here’s a portion of Mark 5, beginning at verse 27:

“After hearing about Jesus, she came up in the crowd behind Him and touched His cloak. For she thought, “If I just touch His garments, I will get well.” Immediately the flow of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of her affliction. Immediately Jesus, perceiving in Himself that the power proceeding from Him had gone forth, turned around in the crowd and said, “Who touched My garments?” And His disciples said to Him, “You see the crowd pressing in on You, and You say, ‘Who touched Me?’”

"And He looked around to see the woman who had done this. But the woman fearing and trembling, aware of what had happened to her, came and fell down before Him and told Him the whole truth. And He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace and be healed of your affliction.”

This was not a halfhearted seeking. The woman did not exhibit a passive ‘take it or leave it’ attitude. No, not her. She meant business.

From one end of the Scriptures to the other, God's message is clear: He is pleased when we mean business in seeking Him. No tepid, lukewarm, take-it- or-leave-it searching.

Isn’t that what you want to do? Seek Him with all your heart?

It’s what I want to do.

Usually.

But not all the time.

Holy Spirit, please continue to change my heart. Grant by Your grace that I may seek Jesus as this woman sought Him, to press through the crowds, just to touch His cloak. Amen.

God is Pro-Choice

I posted this a couple of years ago. I thought it good to repost it:

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God is pro-choice.

That really shouldn't surprise anyone.

He didn't create us to render robotic obedience to Him. If we couldn't disobey, then our obedience would be meaningless. Which is why, because He desires humanity to willingly return His love, He made a strategic, yet risky decision at our creation.
He let us choose whom we will serve, whom we will love, and whom we will obey.

Choices, of course, carry consequences.

The consequence for a lifestyle of obedience to Him results in complete, through and through, forgiveness for the sins we bring Him in repentance. He permits us to intimately know Him in this life, and in the one which lasts forever.

The consequence for a lifestyle of disobedience results in inevitable and eternal judgment for the sins we have committed, and in painful and unending separation from Him in the life which lasts forever.

Which is why, by the way, He pleads with us:

Choose wisely.

Don't Throw it Away

I started reading again through 1 Peter this morning. I usually try to finish it in one sitting. It’s only five very short chapters. Barely six pages in my Bible.

But this morning I couldn’t hardly get beyond the first chapter in the time I allotted myself. I stopped for a while at verses 3-6 of chapter one.

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”

Notice the verb tenses in that section. They’re important.

Verse 3: God’s great mercy ‘has caused us’ (past tense) to be born again to a living hope. That’s not a ‘maybe’ promise. It’s already been accomplished.

Now verse 4: We’ve been born again through His mercy to obtain in imperishable inheritance already reserved (past tense) in heaven for us. There’s another promise of a ‘done deal.’

And then verse 5: ‘We are protected’ (present tense) by God’s power through our faith in Him.

No wonder Peter continues in verse 6: “In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials . . ."

Christian! You have great reason to rejoice in God’s many promises of your eternal destination. You and I can rest in the assurance that God has already ‘qualified’ us (past tense) to share in the heavenly inheritance. Why? Because “He rescued us (past tense) from the domain of darkness and transferred us (past tense) into the Kingdom of His beloved Son’ (see Colossians 1:12-14).

Child of God through faith in the atoning blood of Jesus! Keep walking with Him. Stay faithful and obedient to Him. “Do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised” (Hebrews 10:35-36).

Persevere

“Prone to wander, Lord I feel it, Prone to leave the God I love.

O to grace how great a debtor, Daily I'm constrained to be!

Let they goodness, like a fetter, Bind my wandering heart to thee.

Prone to wander, Lord I feel it, Prone to leave the God I love.

Here's my heart. O take and seal it; Seal it for thy courts above.”

(From the hymn, Come Thou Font)

I just finished Hebrews again. This time a verse in chapter 10 caught my eye. “Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised.”

Have you ever noticed, as you read the Bible for yourself, how often the Holy Spirit encourages us toward endurance? The synonym ‘Perseverance’ is also often used throughout both testaments. If you do a word-search for the two words in any concordance, I think you might be as surprised as I to discover how often those words appear in context with our relationship with God.

And I thought, as I put the Bible down for a moment, there’s a reason God repeatedly urges us toward that character trait. It’s because we – you and I – are so easily tempted to quit doing what we know is right.

God knows us far better than any of us know ourselves. He knows of the frustrations that assail from time to time. He knows the powerful pull of worldly philosophies, the alluring seductions of a variety of temptations. He knows the anger that surges in our gut when we face situations we cannot control and which we rightly believe unjust. He knows our fears, our loneliness, our illnesses that impel us toward depression and melancholy.

No wonder, God tells us so often: “Call on Me. I haven’t left you. I haven’t forsaken you.”

No wonder He says it so often: "Persevere!"

But His exhortation does not, of course, stop there. God knows our frame. He is quite mindful that we are but dust.

And when we fall – no matter for how long, or how many times, the Father continues watching for His Prodigal Son or Daughter to repent. To return home. And start again.

Remember this: saints are simply sinners who, as often as they fall down – they get up.

Christian! You are not alone in your frustrations, your loneliness, your sadness, your temptations.

Persevere!

Our God – our ‘Emmanuel’ – is always with us.

From Fire to Ashes

I wrote and posted this essay several years ago. I can still learn from the message.



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The fire on the altar is to be kept burning; it must not go out. Every morning the priest shall put firewood on it. On this he shall lay out the burnt offering and burn the fat of the peace offerings. The fire is to be kept burning continuously on the altar; it must not go out (Leviticus 6:5-6).

The smoke never stopped. Night and day, it rose toward heaven. From every corner of the camp the people could see it in the distance. It always reminded them Whose they were, and to Whom they belonged.

They couldn't escape the message -- but the message was always in danger of losing its power. And after a time, that’s what happened. The special became routine. Holy awe waned into indifference. The perpetual smoke became more a token of religion than an evidence of faith. Even before they crossed the Jordan, Israel fell into spiritual lethargy and everyone did what was right in his own eyes (Deuteronomy 12:8).

Israel was not alone in her tendency to drift from awe to boredom. Throughout ancient and modern history, humanity, like sheep, has more often than not wandered from the fires of faith to the ashes of religion.

Even we in the Church are at risk. Perhaps it is better to say, "We in the Church are especially at risk."

While the Lord Jesus continually offers intercession for us (Hebrews 7:25), we can lose our passion for Him. Our worship can tend toward religious ceremony rather than inspire the flames of faithful devotion, obedience, and evangelism.

Israel’s fire did not need to cool. And neither does ours. The remedy available to Israel is the same for God’s people today: [Love] the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might (Deuteronomy 6:5)

Love God. With all our heart and soul and might.



Fr. Pedro Arupe, SJ (died 1991) said it as well as I have ever seen or heard it:

 

Nothing is more practical than finding God, than falling in Love in a quite absolute, final way. What you are in love with, what seizes your imagination, will affect everything. It will decide what will get you out of bed in the morning, what you do with your evenings, how you spend your weekends, what you read, whom you know,
what breaks your heart, and what amazes you with joy and gratitude. Fall in Love [with God]. Stay in love, and it will decide everything.



Oh, Holy Spirit. Help us fall ever deeper in love with our God. Please.



Amen.

SHMILY

I published in one of my books. I thought it might be helpful to post it here today.
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For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life (St. John 3:16).

It’s easy to find the story of SHMILY. Laura Jeanne Allen published the anecdote of her grandparents’ mysterious word in a 1999 Chicken Soup for the Couple’s Soul. Since then, SHMILY – an acronym for “See How Much I Love You” – has raced across the world through the power of the internet.

During their 50 years of marriage, Andrew and Alice McAndrew’s love for each other found expression in hundreds of ways. They stole gentle kisses in the kitchen, held hands at every opportunity, and spoke their devotion to each other with their eyes. They knelt each day in church to meet with God, whom they knew to be the source of their love. They bowed their heads before each meal, acknowledging Him as the source of their sustenance.

Like many couples who have lived together for many years, they could end each other’s sentences, sense one another’s moods, and meet each other’s needs before those needs were even spoken.

For the greater part of their half-century marriage, Andrew and Alice passed See-How-Much-I-Love-You messages to each other like a sacred game of tag. They left notes scrawled with SHMILY on dashboards and car seats, under pillows and traced in the fireplace ashes. They wrote the word in the steam left on the mirror after a hot shower, and carved it into bars of soap. One time, Alice unrolled an entire roll of toilet paper and wrote the word on the last sheet.

During their last years together, breast cancer hung above their heads like a dark and ominous cloud. But the disease couldn’t cast a shadow on their love for each other. She held onto her husband’s steady hand as they continued their morning walks to church. She often whispered to her grandchildren how good-looking her husband was, and that she “knew how to pick ‘em.”

When her strength waned and forced her to remain indoors, Andrew painted their room yellow so she could feel surrounded by sunshine. When the cancer finally took her life, the family gathered for the funeral where, to no one’s surprise, they saw Grandpa’s final love note written on the pink ribbons of the funeral bouquet: SHMILY.

One of my favorite Scripture passages is from the book of Isaiah: “Can a woman forget her nursing child, and have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, but I will not forget you. Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands . . .” (Isaiah 49:15-16).

Most people who have seen a crucifix know of the placard placed by Pontius Pilate above our Lord’s head (John 19:19-22). It holds the acronym INRI – the first letters of the Latin phrase, “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews.”

When I heard about SHMILY, my imagination framed for me two lovers who had grown old together, who deeply cherished each other, and now Andrew suffered the loss of his life mate. Then, a moment later, my mind’s eye turned in another direction. It was there that I saw our Savior. I saw His hands nailed to the cross beams, His feet to the wood, the crown of thorns pressed into his forehead. And above His head, I saw the inscription on the placard:

It read, SHMILY.

Bloody Faith

“If his holocaust offering is from the flock that is, a sheep or a goat, [the priest] must bring a male without blemish. This he shall slaughter before the Lord at the north side of the altar. Then Aaron’s sons, the priest, shall splash its blood on the sides of the altar” (Leviticus 1:10-11).

Some believe the Old Testament religion was a bloody one.

They are right. The blood of bulls and goats flowed from the Hebrew altar day after day
after day to atone for sins.


Some think the New Testament religion is less bloody.

They are wrong. The blood bath of animals was only a shadow of the substance to unfold two thousand years later, on Calvary. There the blood of our God dripped from His face, His arms, His side, to cleanse our sins.

And within the seamless folds of eternity that blood still flows each time we reject
Him.

In Him Alone

I wrote this a little more than two years ago. It seems more poignant today:
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For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to . . . . stand firm. (Ephesians 6:12-13)

No one old enough to read is unaware of the evil ravaging across our nation like a tsunami, leaving in its wake destruction, mayhem, and death. I do not need to itemize the things happening around us today.

Every day.

Day after day.

I also know how easy it is to start seeing life through the prism of fear, apprehension, and yes, even dread about tomorrow. I know how easy it is to do that because I found myself moving in that direction once again, this time after reading the latest reports of Satan unleashed in the South Carolina church massacre.

That evening as I prepared for sleep, I opened my Bible to John’s gospel and read what Jesus said to His own: “These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)

Life and peace and fear and dread are deeply rooted in this equation: If we are living ‘in the world’, we have good reason to live with fear. But if we are living ‘in Christ’ we have good reason to even stare death in the face and spit in its eye.

“And they overcame him (Satan) by the blood of the Lamb, and the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death.” (Revelation 12:11)

If you've read this far, here is my plea. If you are a Christian, stay in Christ! If you are not yet a Christian, please don't delay any longer.

In this world we have nothing but tribulation. Please! Pray for each other that we stay in Christ. It is in Him alone – in Him alone – will we receive supernatural peace . . .

Even in the midst of the tsunami.

Jesus is God?

The apostle Paul during his defense before the Roman and Jewish leaders said:

"And now I am standing trial for the hope of the promise made by God to our fathers; the promise to which our twelve tribes hope to attain, as they earnestly serve God night and day. And for this hope, O King, I am being accused by Jews. Why is it considered incredible among you people if God does raise the dead?" (Acts 26:6-8)

It was a great question: Why is it considered incredible that the Almighty God could raise the dead?

I thought of Paul’s comment the other day when someone asked how Jesus can be God, when God is in heaven.

Aside from the impossibility for our finite minds to understand the infinite mind of God, and apart from the plentiful clues throughout Scripture regarding the deity of Jesus, I focused my response on one point. It was this:

Genesis 1:1 – “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”

I am unable to wrap my human mind around the concept that before the beginning, nothing existed. Nothing. Existed.

Not an atom, or an electron spinning around a nucleus. Nothing existed until the Almighty created it.

Space – if we can even call it ‘space’ was a complete and absolute void before God created it all.

So, why is it considered incredible that this Almighty God, who did all that He did in the beginning – why is it incredible that He “emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant and [was] made in the likeness of men”? Why also would it be implausible that Almighty God, “being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross”? (see Philippians 2:5-11).

Genesis 1 reaches far beyond our human capacity to understand the work of Almighty God. And that should not surprise us, because if we were able to understand God, He would not be God.

The concept of Jesus' deity also stretches beyond our human reasoning. But neither should that surprise us. If we could understand God, He would not be God.