Truth, Grace, and Time

“One foot in the grave” is a figure of speech used since the 17th century to express that one is close to death. This week I had the rare privilege to live in the literal meaning of this statement. Some might wonder if I’ve had a hospital visit or accident, it’s actually a little more funny than that!!

I”m a pastor in a church where the parsonage is across the street from the old church property that includes a cemetery. This last winter one of our parishioners had a funeral and as I was checking in on the burial site this week, the soil seemed a bit odd. I decided to put some weight on the soil and lo and behold, it was being held up by the crust of clay that had formed on top. I sank about 18 inches before gravity stopped winning. I was relieved!! Denise and I have had some great conversations in the last 2 years, but I’m not ready for another one with her just yet!

Death/Life, Life/Death. So many scriptures that use this imagery. “Those who find their life will lose, those who lose their life will find it.” Matthew 10:39 “I die daily.” I Cor 15:31 “You were dead in your transgressions…but God made us alive.” Ephesians 2:4-6 ” I have been crucified with Christ and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.” Galatians 2:20

How good of a day would it be if Terry White not only had one foot in the grave but two??!! Instead of Terry White being alive with all of his insecurities, what if I was dead and replaced with Christ, who would be alive in me. I always remember the phrase, “It’s a great day to be dead.” Dead to me but Christ fully alive in me. How would my actions and more importantly my reactions be governed by the only one who knows how to do this thing of life perfectly.

When life comes my way and I’m tempted to be overwhelmed, I have to remind myself Terry: it’s a great day to be dead. Yeah I know what they did, yeah I know what they said, but Christ is alive in me and I’m doing my best to be led by Him, strengthened by His strength and filled with the response that would come from Christ and not Terry’s insecure heart. So, it’s not JUST about going out there and being dead to the world, it’s about having Christ make me alive. Just a reminder that we are called to be salt and light, but darkness hates light and infection hates salt, which increases the need to be more dead and Christ to be more alive.

John the Baptist was on the right track.. He must increase, I must decrease. So go out there and be dead and find life!! Ready, Set, Go!!

If you’re not the sharpest tool, the next best thing is to have the sharpest tool. For several years we burned a lot of wood. Cut down a lot of dead trees and burned 8-9 cords of wood every winter. Beautiful red oak I might add, much to my woodworking father’s dismay! Sorry dad.

Dullness comes over time(immediately if you are mindless in your chainsaw use). Before you know it, the large chunks of wood become more like sawdust, sometimes fine sawdust. At that point the work is increased. The saw works needlessly, my back works needlessly, everything becomes more work. It reminds me of Ecclesiastes 10:10

“If the axe is dull and he does not sharpen its edge, then he must exert more strength. Wisdom has the advantage of bringing success.” Ecclesiastes 10:10

Time has a way of teaching us a few things. The illusion of my youth was that I indeed used more strength to accomplish some tasks. Back, shoulders and knees no longer allow for such thinking. At this point in life I am looking for any mechanical advantage I can find. At the heart of that is a sharpened tool and the recognition of dullness for what it is.

But I also witness a dullness of heart in myself and others and the useless ways we try to power through that. God has this gift for us in exchanging the dullness for sharpness, not only for our tools sake but for our heart, mind, and soul as well.

I find that one of my main sharpening stones in life (on top of the Bible, Godly people) is music. Maybe music is in the category of people. I appreciate the heart of an artist that writes a song born in their experience of life, how often it resonates will me, how it can sharpen, refine remove the burrs on the edge of my life that only serve to dull anything I touch. Here’s the sharpening stone in my life this morning…

I am convinced… well sometimes my blade hits a stone and the conviction gets a big dent in the prime cutting area. More than anything I need a stone of truth to run over the edge, get things snapped back into order.

As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.” Proverbs 27:17 May we recognize the need and offer the service to one another!! Sometimes we offer the service to those uninterested. Jesus called that “casting your pearls before the swine.” There is no appreciation for the gift. The modern day version is “no good deed, goes unpunished.” O I pray you recognize the need and usefulness of The Sharpening Stone and embrace it for all it can do…

To sharp axes, for physical and spiritual labor!!

You leave your mark (for good or bad) in a number of ways in a number of places. There was a perfect storm of a George Carlin bit about “stuff”, an opportunity to preach at Lakeview Covenant, and a garage(garbage) sale we were having for a mission trip on the Saturday before the sermon. Usually we were required to get the stuff taken away on the same day, but I had people load all of it into the sanctuary and pile it onstage for dramatic effect. Most people remember that sermon!! It was a sermon on stuff.

Years later Jerry Seinfeld came up with a routine that expresses much of the same sentiment. The beginning of the video has him making comments related to the fact that the studio audience just won flat screen TV’s and he makes some remarks before he starts his routine. If you want to laugh, give it a listen…

To quote the video,” All things on earth only exist in different stages of becoming garbage. Your home is a garbage processing center.”

Years of doing these garage sales was witness of all the gems that were brought home with such joy at one time and now we can only get $5 for the $100 item and most likely someone will offer $2.

The Bible tries to let us be reminded about treasures, what they are, where they are stored, what happens to stuff where moth, rust, time are hard on these. I’m as guilty of this as anyone. I really do appreciate a well worn artifact from yesteryear. The innovation the one who made it, the joy for the one who used it, the stories of the past that are related to it. The ration cards my grandparents handled during WWII, the toy my dad had as a kid, the doll my mom played with, a link to what was. I can appreciate this deep longing we have to be rooted. It finds it’s expression in all of our interest in geneology and dna tests to discover our heritage. Turns out, I’m related to a portion of the world that is in real need of sunscreen!!

God invites us to be rooted in His story, His family line and it’s an exceptionally gracious invite, to be rooted and established in His love, invited into the family as an heir not an error. I hope you join us.

Don’t yawn already, it might be interesting! It’s growing season and trees are bursting at the buds to push growth,

A little trivia for you, shrubs and trees have several types of buds; terminal, secondary, and latent buds. A terminal bud is the biggest bud you see in the picture. The secondary buds are the three smaller buds you see. Latent buds are buds that lie dormant and may or may not ever be prompted to come out.

Terminal buds send out signals to the root system to receive more energy and resources than the secondary buds. In the case of damage to a limb, the latent buds can be put into play. Think of trimming a hedge and seeing all of the back budding that takes place.

More trivia: sorry. Trees are generally apically dominant when it comes to how it grows. Meaning the apex gets more resources than the side branches, thus the reason trees grow up to be tall. All of this is an important part of my bonsai hobby. How things grow is part of how we create pleasing images.

We could head in several different directions here so I’ll try to choose one. Growing pine bonsai is all about equalizing the energy of all the buds. Leaving the terminal apex bud alone will push growth out of the boundary of the image I am trying to create. The shortest explanation is in the spring when the candles(pine term for buds) begin to push, I trim off half of the candle. Trimming off the whole candle would just stop growth all together, trimming off half means the latent buds that are waiting to come out, and will now have a reason too. Also fertilization becomes important as that is what will drive even more buds to push. All of these buds are part of what we use to create pleasing, full branches.

SO WHAT… Is there a point or just a horticulture lesson? The Bible asks us to look out for the widows, orphans, strangers, and the poor over and over again. The strong, give up some of their strength for the purpose of bringing life to others. Now some are quick to jump in and say that’s a communist, socialist way to think. But we seem to miss the obvious difference. There is a HUGE difference between a government mandate and personal generosity. It’s so different it might be worth a blog entry, but it’s also so obvious that it’s not even worth discussing because it’s so obvious… something about not seeing a forest because there are too many trees.

God invites us to a generous life, most of all because He is a generous God and being like Christ is the goal. God so loved the world that He gave. He took His might and strength and surrendered it on the cross so that latent buds like us, could find life. The paradox!!!

Paul Harvey is famous for bringing us the rest of the story. Before you get to the rest you have to be left hanging. The tension and anticipation, the longing we have to fill in the blanks is a curiosity. It’s one of the reasons I love black and white photography. Since there is no color, it relies on texture to stimulate interest and since we see in color, there is this longing to fill in the blanks. It’s hard to accept black and white when you know full well that this picture is filled with color. In this case colorful characters!!

I’ve always enjoyed this picture. Like many things there is some debate about it. Some say 1901 some say 1905. Some say Nebraska, others say Denver. Either way, it’s a group of cowboys showcasing their skills in your typical “Western Show” of their era. The thing I enjoy about a photo like this is that a picture does say a thousand words, but it also leaves out several million as well.

Wouldn’t you like to know… Which of these guys would give you the shirt off their back? Which one would give you the ace up his sleeve to win a card game? Who was the alpha? Who couldn’t care less about who is the alpha? What were their dreams, did they realize them and who is coasting in a freefall of carelessness, becoming a reprobate? Family, friends, life stories all unknown.

The Bible offers the same snapshot of lives lived. Answers to some questions are made known, but deep things go unexplained and you just wondered how they viewed things and how different their perspective about most everything would be very different from my own.

God invites me to trust Him and Hebrews reminds me that I have a great cloud of witnesses listed in Chapter 11. These witnesses offer the type of online reviews we read to find out about a product in our day. Abram didn’t have such a list to look through. He just did what God asked of him and moved to a foreign land. Which I might add, upon arrival, was in such drought that he went to Egypt to weather the storm. Which just makes me think, “Thanks for the Promised Land(hear all of the hesitation in my vocal chords)”

You see, it’s in those moments where I would really like to know what’s going on in the mind of people. For every thousand words of the picture, I have a thousand questions. It might very well be that God didn’t see fit to answer all of that for me. It might be that my questions aren’t as great as I think, or that knowing the answers might keep me from pressing into what a living God would have to say to me today in my own experience.

In my imagination of the photo above or any of my favorite Bible stories, the only thing that really matters is… I hope they knew God. I hope they knew they could be reconciled to a Holy, strong, loving, merciful God. That their giftedness was a gift from their Creator, that today they are enjoying a wholeness in heaven that was almost impossible to imagine while here on planet earth and that this coming Sunday they might partake of communion with us. All of that I pray is true. Any fact beyond that might be nice for historical trivia. It’s the eternal questions that matter most.

So we moved to a new ministry location and a blessed church member gave us a jar of the above, it was a delight! A great combination of texture and flavors and a change up from all the apple butter I’m used to.

The great news was that the church property we live at has two pear trees and this last fall we had a crop big enough to get at least one batch made. The one batch only made about 12 jars so I wasn’t super generous with it, but I did feel compelled to give my 3 children a jar to enjoy.

Eight months later… I visit my kids, I find that the blessed nature of this masterpiece has either been completely untouched or used maybe one time. At this point it’s my personal goal to use it for them and I don’t mind a bit!!

But it does make me wonder… I’m used to the idea that all taste buds aren’t a like. My wife and I have lived in the world of different flavor palates all of our life. But, to not even try it??!!

Regardless of all that, I know that sometimes there are things that lie outside of our comfort zone. Good things that we just need to taste, like a parent forcing some new food on their child, “just try one bite of this ice cream, I’m pretty sure you’ll like it.”

We have preconceived notions that keep us from diving headlong into the unknown. All of our choices have a consequence, but sometimes we are wrong about the consequence. Sometimes, the consequence brings us an unexpected beauty, like a flourish of flavor on our tongue that is better than anything we’ve tasted before. Like the recognition that the forgiveness God asked me to offer brought life to my tired soul.

I’m quite certain that the intersection of my life and Gods gifts for me, lives in this point of faith as well. Do I trust that God wants to bring life to my soul? Do I trust that His request of me would bring me to a better physical, emotional, relational, spiritual space than the one I currently know? Do I keep the greatest things of God locked up in a jar in the fridge untouched or do I immerse myself in the gifts He wants to bring me today.

So open up a jar of the new things God wants to bring you today, even if it’s pink and chunky and you aren’t quite sure what it is. God knows how to give good gifts to His children. If you ask for bread would He give you a stone? I’m convinced that our trust of Him does not disappoint.

Like the advice to Mikey in the old “Life” cereal commercial…

pre·ci·sion

[prēˈsiZH(ə)n]

NOUN

1. the quality, condition, or fact of being exact and accurate:

Of all the words one could use to describe me, precise would not be unbelievable, there are flashes of it in my work and interests, but it would not be a top 10 type of quality. I recognize the value of precision in certain arenas of life. Accountants, brain surgeons, finish carpenters probably are meant to be people with that disposition as a primary descriptor.

Precision is about diving into the details. Don Shula (coach of the only perfect NFL Season, Miami Dolphins) was once asked, “is there ever a benefit to overlooking one small flaw?” His response; “Which one is the small one?” Good question, but it’s like asking which gear should not be machined well? Years of coaching brings up other illustrations as well. Anytime you are successful at something it will get copied, after all, “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.” Witnessing people try to imitate our “fly sweep” in football was observed that three-four details were not part of the imitation. Three-four reasons why it’s not going well for them, the details matter.

There are moments where precision is an absolute necessity.

Anytime fire and fuel is involved, precision seems pretty important. How do you control the flame, better yet, can you turn it off? Knobs must work, gears can’t stick, precision is at work all around us. It’s pretty impressive. People talk about certain companies or certain regions of the world that over engineer things, things of super high quality. That is differentiated from the planned obsolescence in our world today. Make things not last as long, get the consumer to buy another one, maybe in a different color this time.

The Bible says you and I are the handiwork of God. Other places use the word craftsmanship. Someone who takes their work seriously. If we were to pass that phrase on about a friend it would be a real compliment. That person is a craftsman.

Psalm 139 “I praise you(God) because I am fearfully and wonderfully made. You works are wonderful, I know that full well… I was woven together.” A weaver takes their time to do it right, do it well.

Ephesians 2: “We are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” His workmanship is movingus forward to the plans he has for us.

Phillippians 1:6: “Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion.” Reminds me of the fake add for “Couple More Days Construction Company.” Tag line: Always Almost Done. The homeowner that never really finshes the project, just needs a couple more days!! God new the completion date before the foundation of the universe.

So let me be the first to tip my hat to the Maker of you. He’s done, He’s doing a great job!!

The cover of snow has melted and revealed a couple of large holes in my landscape. It reminds me of the sinkholes you hear about around the world, it seems like Florida makes the news once in a while for this phenomenon. In fact, there is an area in Florida called sinkhole alley. It’s usually a couple of factors that play into the event. Generally, an underground water source with some movement to it. That combined with some unstable soil slowly erodes the soil away and eventually it all gives way.

There is an internal force and an external force. The internal force is the soil that keeps the surface, well, at the surface. When this begins to erode it can keep it’s shape for a while. In fact, the facade might keep it’s shape for a long while. The longer it’s able to hold, the bigger the sink hole can become. Eventually the externals are changed dramatically and what was once hidden, is there for everyone to see.

It really is a metaphor for life. We can have a facade, an external presentation of our life. A presentation that’s propped up by a lot of things all the while turmoil inside our heart eroding our character, good decisions, and the person that we have been. Sometimes you look at the drastically bad choice someone makes and wonder what could have happened. A sinkhole, a life propped up with good intentions, but the storms overwhelm our heart, and we wonder what happened. It’s why the Bible invites us to examine our hearts, to discover the sink hole before it becomes a problem, let it be filled with Christ, propped up on the inside by the omnipotent God of the universe!!

I think many of us have experienced some version of the sink hole. Maybe it’s the full crash, maybe the awareness of a pending problem or staring into an abyss that we know deep down shouldn’t be like this. In the 16th Century St John of the Cross spoke of “the dark night of the soul.” Ironically the philosophical explanation of this phrase might cause the phrase. The shorter version is more like a soil so dry it can’t absorb any moisture. A spirit so dry that it seems like we just can’t get back to a place we once knew spiritually. That takes me to the Prayer for the Ephesians 3:14-21…

The uneven heating and cooling of our planet is the source of this joy and living on a semi-barren plain, it is a constant reality. Generally speaking, it can be a wearying presence. But sometimes a breeze is an improvement over some stale humidified air.

I woke up this morning to the sounds of a windy day and it reminded me of a couple of old songs from yesteryear. Russ Taff has a song titled “Winds of Change,” reminders that the grass isn’t greener on the other side. The chorus has an odd reminder…”The hands of time go round and round, they don’t slow down when you lose your way”. It makes sense in the larger context of the song, a nostalgic look at the highs and lows of our past with a reminder to not let “the dust blow in your eyes.”

Geoff Moore also has a song titled “Winds of Change.” A little more deep and thoughtful as it refers to tradgedy and the death of a father. I love the chorus, “Winds of change came calling, they hit me without warning, let my foundation be all that remains, everything else was… carried away (Variant: let all we need, be all that remains, everything else be (big musical pause) carried away.)

The wind will do that, carry things away. Today the wind is a huge blessing, it’s carrying away the humidity so the rest of the snow can melt and water can evaporate and move on to rain somewhere else( hopefully a place that needs it). Thank you God for the wind today, it is a blessing.

The Winds of Change, reminds me of a third song by Margaret Becker with the exact opposite title, “Unchanged” Ironically the verses are all about… you guessed it… change. The Railroad Engine that had done it’s work through the wind, the snow, the rain, but now it’s wheels are rusted golden and it’s not on a track, somebody somewhere swore that train would be coming back. BUT, here’s the contrast…

“You(God) remain, unchanged unchanged… Amen

The song continues with the theme of verses speaking about things that change and the chorus reminding us of the big contrast with the God who doesn’t.

I pray that the winds of change will carry away the chaff and leave us with only what is necessary and even the destructive winds that the enemy brings would make room for the blessing God has for us

Enjoying my blustery day.

Certain pictures always capture my attention. This picture was taken on the set of “The Passion of the Christ.” A little break in the filming.

What’s the first thing that comes to our mind when you see this picture? Like most of us, I live in some eagerness to have a conversation with Christ someday. Things I would ask, what I might say. But when I look at this picture and if I knew He would look like this when I had my chance, I know the content of that conversation would change a little… a lot…

My first reaction to this photo has always been me explaining to Jesus how hard life has been. With me almost completely unaware of how bloody he is while listening intently to me. At the center of my universe is me and my struggle. A universal struggle in the story of humanity.

This picture inspires me to ponder the nature of Hebrews 4:15, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are-yet did not sin.” The nature of connection and how much we seek that out with people and how God sought that out with us. To reconcile us back to him even though we were the ones who walked away.

I have a young friend who came to church, responded to God, yet over time has become cynical to everything, and everyone related to the One we celebrate this weekend. A God of infinite resources who recognized a problem that only He could solve. The solution was with the shedding of blood just like He had always talked about in the Old Testament. Without the “shedding of blood there is no remission of sin.” God didn’t ask us to solve the problem we created, giving creedance to the saying, “what we attain too cheaply, we esteem too lightly. It is dearness only that gives anything value” Thomas Paine

The expectation was for a perfect spotless lamb without defect. Behold the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

It always makes me wonder how someone could be upset about the idea that the problem we as people created, could be solved through the personal sacrifice of the One who was never the source of the problem, only the solution. To have so much venom for the one who stepped into the darkness to be and bring the light. To hear the good news of what God has done and not reach for terms of endearment, but rather contempt. Adventures in missing the point to say the least.

If the Jesus pictured above were to sit across from you today, what would you say? What would I say? I think I know for me, and I would tell you but that might keep you from forming your own response which would be the greatest part of this exercise…

What I love most about this picture is the intensity with which Jesus is listening in this picture, in spite of what’s obviously happening to Him. Thank you for hearing, loving, seeing me, may I live that way too.