Thanks

There is an old Ray Boltz song entitled, "Thank you for Giving to the Lord." The song has several verses that imagine a person standing in Heaven, surprised by people who are there because of his/her influence.

At the time, the influential acts of the imagined past seemed small, insignificant perhaps, and certainly not noteworthy. Yet:

One by one they came
Far as the eye could see
Each life somehow touched
By your generosity

Little things that you had done
Sacrifices made
Unnoticed on the earth
In heaven now proclaimed

I can think of people who have said things and done things to/with me that made a huge difference, yet I am fairly certain they had no awareness of their influence and impact at the time.

Maybe I should tell them?

Thank you for giving to the Lord
I am a life that was changed
Thank you for giving to the Lord
I am so glad you gave

Future Peace

Gilda Radner died of cancer in May of 1989. She, among other things, was a comedienne on Saturday Night Live in the late 70s. Her painful path to death produced these words:


"I wanted a perfect ending. Now I’ve learned, the hard way, that some poems don’t rhyme, and some stories don’t have a clear beginning, middle, and end. Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what’s going to happen next."

The longer I live the more I embrace the truth and wisdom in her words. Don’t take that to mean I have no faith or confidence in God. It’s just the opposite. I really try to live by this rather profound bumper sticker statement:

I don’t know what the future holds, but I know who holds the future.

For a long time I’ve been in a process, painful at times, of relinquishing control. I cannot control much of anything beyond my attitude, and I have a hard time with that. I can’t control any other person.

Most things in my life have been different from what I at one point imagined. I actually find peace and joy in that. We simply don’t know much about the future, beyond that fact that God is in it and promises his children blessings. These ancient words of Isaiah (chap. 64) are worth believing:

Since before time began
no one has ever imagined,
No ear heard, no eye seen, a God like you
who works for those who wait for him.

I don’t know what happens next, but God’s promised presence is enough for me.

Challenge

Words are so powerful in so many ways.

What follows are some words that can change your life!

They are fairly simple to say and so challenging to practice.

I wonder what would happen if we took every thought captive and then would not release it into further thought or release it into words until it met the standard found in these words?

Here they are, found in Psalm 19:14.

May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.

I am really going to try live by this prayer today.

Serenity Prayer

Around seventy years ago, Reinhold Niebuhr, an American theologian, included in a sermon a prayer he wrote. That powerful prayer became popular. It still is. It’s used by lots of groups and lots of people.

You are familiar with the first part, but the second part of the prayer is equally important and powerful. Praying this prayer is a great way to start a week that will be full of all kinds of things.

Ready?

God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking, as He did, this sinful world
as it is, not as I would have it;
Trusting that He will make all things right
if I surrender to His Will;
That I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with Him
Forever in the next.

Amen.

Revenge

An 80-year-old woman was arrested for shop lifting. When she went before the judge he asked her, "What did you steal?"

"A can of peaches."

The judge asked her why she had stolen them.

"I was hungry."

The judge then asked her how many peaches were in the can.

"Six."

Thinking for a little while, the judge said, "I will give you six days in jail."

Before the judge could actually pronounce the punishment, the woman’s husband spoke up and asked the judge if he could say something.

"What is it?" the Judge asked.

The husband said, "She also stole a can of peas."

* * *

I guess the old fellow had some issues and also forgot this:

1 Peter 3:9 — Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.

I understand.

Never Too Old

I saw an article recently about a woman who quit smoking. She is 102 years old, and she had been smoking since 1931. That’s more than 80 years of sucking on 2-3 cancer sticks per day.

I guess those warning labels don’t apply to everyone? Her family estimates that she smoked around 60,000 cigarettes. Wow!

Why do you quit smoking at 102? Certainly not for health reasons. Her family talked to her into quitting because they were concerned she was going to burn her house down. She got a little careless where the ashes were falling.

OK, there are all kinds of things to think about this story, but the thought that came to my mind is this. You are never too old to quit, or maybe to start. Yes, I know, an 80-year-old is not going to be an Olympic athlete, but you know what I mean.

You are not too old to stop a bad habit, to repair a relationship with a child, to do this or that. You are not too old to start a new habit, to change your ways to better ways, to do this or that.

C.S. Lewis said, "You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream."

Stop today! Start today!

Self-Esteem

Some of us who are older like to point out that "back in the day" not everyone got a trophy. Only the winners got trophies.

Now everyone gets one. I’ve coached little children who hoped they would lose their tournament game so they could get their trophy sooner rather than later. Ha ha.

Trophies for all seems to be a part of a move to make sure that children develop good self-esteem, which is not bad. Right? Some wonder, however, if we are not creating narcissistic monsters who will not be able to handle the realities of a harsh world.

On the other end of things, we do not want children (or adults) who hate and reject themselves, who feel like they should have an "L" tattooed on their foreheads to signify they are losers.

How do we strike the balance?

I find the most helpful thought is that God considers me his beloved child. Even though I am terribly flawed and sin often, he still loves me and allows me to be in relationship with him through grace, mercy and forgiveness.

Thank God.

Perception

Stare at the lines below and most of you will be able to read them.

7H15 M3554G3
53RV35 7O PR0V3
H0W 0UR M1ND5 C4N
D0 4M4Z1NG 7H1NG5!
1MPR3551V3 7H1NG5!
1N 7H3 B3G1NN1NG
17 WA5 H4RD BU7
N0W, 0N 7H15 LIN3
Y0UR M1ND 1S
R34D1NG 17
4U70M471C4LLY
W17H 0U7 3V3N
7H1NK1NG 4B0U7 17,
B3 PROUD! 0NLY
C3R741N P30PL3 C4N
R3AD 7H15.

Interesting. It makes me think about how easy it is to change our perception of things, maybe even calling evil good and good evil.

Romans 12:1,2 — Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Monday prayer

Here’s a good Monday prayer from The Message, Psalm 36:5-12.

God’s love is meteoric,
his loyalty astronomic,
His purpose titanic,
his verdicts oceanic.

Yet in his largeness
nothing gets lost;
Not a man, not a mouse,
slips through the cracks.
How exquisite your love, O God!
How eager we are to run under your wings,
To eat our fill at the banquet you spread
as you fill our tankards with Eden spring water.
You’re a fountain of cascading light,
and you open our eyes to light.

Keep on loving your friends;
do your work in welcoming hearts.
Don’t let the bullies kick me around,
the moral midgets slap me down.
Send the upstarts sprawling
flat on their faces in the mud.

Just doing the job

A guy stopped at a local gas station, and after filling his tank, he bought a soft drink. He stood by his car to drink his cola and watched a couple of men working along the roadside.

One man would dig a hole two or three feet deep and then move on. The other man came along behind him and filled in the hole. While one was digging a new hole, the other was 25 feet behind filling in the hole.

After observing this for a little while, the man approached the men with shovels. "Can you tell me what’s going on here with all this digging and refilling?"

"Well, we work for the government and we’re just doing our job," one of the men said.

"But one of you is digging a hole and the other fills it up. You’re not accomplishing anything. Aren’t you wasting the taxpayers’ money?"

"You don’t understand, mister," one of the men said, leaning on his shovel and wiping his brow. "Normally there’s three of us: me, Elmer and Leroy. I dig the hole, Elmer sticks in the tree, and Leroy here puts the dirt back."

Elmer’s job’s been cut . . . so now it’s just me an’ Leroy.

* * *

I guess there are all kinds of things to say about this story. It is important to know what you are doing and why, and when it doesn’t make sense, then maybe it’s time to do something else.

Have a great weekend!

Happy Valentine's Day

Today is Valentine’s Day!

I hope that did not elicit groans, cursing, or other expressions of faulty memory or neglect.

While we might be tempted to say Valentine’s Day originates with the card, candy, and flower folks, we need to know it does not.

It’s actually rooted in history, in a man who lived a long time ago. History gets a little fuzzy about Valentine, but the consensus is he was a good man who highly valued God’s love expressed in marriage.

The legend I like best involves Valentine who lived in the 3^rd century. He was a Christian who defied Roman authorities by marrying soldiers who were in love. Rome thought married soldiers were less effective and, thus, denied marriage.

Valentine was imprisoned and eventually put to death for his defiant faith.

Go ahead and get the flowers or candy, and/or go out on a date, but also remember that this day is a day to celebrate love, selfless love that shows it depth to the point of death, while believing in Resurrection.

1 John 3:16a — This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.

John 3:16,17 — For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

Just be There

Will you be there?

There is something special, even sacred, about physical presence. Isn’t "just being with" a person the essence of relationship? The promised presence of God in our lives is sufficient, but his presence is often (mostly?) mediated through fellow humans. Right?

You need others.

You are needed by others.

Henri Nouwen, speaking about joy, really gets at the importance of physical presence. He says this:

Joy is hidden in compassion. The word compassion literally means "to suffer with." It seems quite unlikely that suffering with another person would bring joy. Yet being with a person in pain, offering simple presence to someone in despair, sharing with a friend times of confusion and uncertainty. . . such experiences can bring us deep joy. Not happiness, not excitement, not great satisfaction, but the quiet joy of being there for someone else and living in deep solidarity with our brothers and sisters in this human family. Often this is a solidarity in weakness, in brokenness, in woundedness, but it leads us to the center of joy, which is sharing our humanity with others.

Someone probably needs you today.

Just be there.

What are your plans?

Driving in Honduras is crazy, to say the least! You beep your horn and take off. Often 3, sometimes 4, vehicles make moves in opposite directions in just 2 lanes. I pray a lot more when I’m on the road in Honduras.

Death on Honduran roads is common. Last week we were stopped in traffic for quite awhile. Then we crept along, finally coming up a scene that still disturbs me. It was the remains of a motorcycle that had hit a car head on. The body had been removed, but streams of blood were fresh upon the pavement.

I wondered about the young man who died. Where was he going? What were his plans for the day? Who was waiting for him? He died on the road that morning, and I’m certain that was not his intention or his plan for day.

It reminds me of the uncertainty of life and of its fragile nature. James says it well (4:13-15):

Now listen, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money." Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, "If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that."

How are you planning for today?

More alike than different

With a few others, I had another great trip to Honduras last week. We built some houses, bought and distributed a ton of food, and gave/received the love of God in various ways. As usual, it was simply wonderful.

I love lots of things about Honduras, especially the children. They are beautiful in so many ways. The little fellow in this picture was of special interest to me. Why? Because we share the same name.

There are so many things that make us different from one another: more than 50 years, culture, education, and ease of living. But I was thinking about what I share with little Allen.

We are both image-bearers of God and dearly loved by him. We both are totally dependent upon him for each precious breath of life.

Along time ago, while in Athens, Paul said this about all that (Act 17:26-28).

From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. "For in him we live and move and have our being." As some of your own poets have said, "We are his offspring."

We are all more alike than we are different. Thank God!

Prayer motives

A minister dies and is waiting in line at the Pearly Gates. Ahead of him is a guy who`s dressed in sunglasses, a loud shirt, leather jacket, and jeans. Peter addresses him, "Who are you, so that I may know whether or not to admit you to the Kingdom of Heaven?"


"I`m Joe Cohen, a taxi-driver from Noo Yawk City."

Peter consults his list, smiles and says to the taxi-driver, "Take this silk robe and golden staff and enter the Kingdom of Heaven."

The minister now stands before Peter and says in his best preacher voice, "I am Joseph Snow, pastor of Saint Mary`s for the last forty-three years."

Peter consults his list and then says to the minister, "Take this cotton robe and wooden staff and enter the Kingdom of Heaven.""

"Just a minute," the minister protested, "that man was a taxi-driver, and he gets a silk robe and golden staff. How can this be?"

"Up here, we work by results," says Peter. "While you preached, people slept; while he drove, people prayed."

* * *

My apologies for the poor theology!

What point can you make from this one? There’s probably something about people praying when they are scared.

Have a great weekend!