Hopeful words from Peter, beginning in 1 Peter 1

I am very thankful to men like N.T. Wright and Dallas Willard who through their careful interpretation of the Bible have helped  me understand better the immediacy of what it means to live in the present moment with the frecognition of the present reality of Jesus' rule. N. t. wright has stressed the reality of the new creation, a  new condition of things inaugurated through the resurrection of Jesus. I live in a new hope, a blessed participant in a new reality,, even a fellow worker with God in cultivating or building a bright and beautiful world. 

But it is also important to realize the here but not yet character of our salvation and the revelation of Jesus' command of the new world. We still are looking forward to receiving an inheritance while we look forward to seeing Jesus' rule fully inaugurated in his second coming. I think that this is what Peter calls our living hope in his first letter.

Our hope is really important. Peter helps us to see just how important it is from the beginning to the end of his letter. Our hope is living. I think that means that it is something that stays with us, that it makes a difference right now to us in how we live. And it is ours because of or through Jesus' resurrection. In other words, without God's mercy, shown to us through the resurrection of Jesus, we would not have this hope (1:3). 

So, what exactly is the thing we hope for? Peter says that the hope is that we have an inheritance. This inheritance is like the one that Jesus talked about in the sermon on the mount. It cannot be destroyed; it cannot rot away; it never loses its sheen; it cannot be stolen from us. (Paul talks about us having a deposit of this inheritance right now, the Holy Spirit, Ephesians 1). (1:4)

This inheritance is our salvation that will be revealed "in the last time," and it is protected by God's power "through faith." In other words, we believe, we put our trust in! Him that he will bring us and give us our salvation. Right now it may seem like there is no inheritance, no god that protects it, nothing that will be revealed. Instead, it seems like we just have a lot of problems: we have to struggle. There are different things, various things, that cause us to struggle, but the effect of going through these struggles is to refine our faith. And coming through these struggles in faith is a beautiful thing since it will mean or it will result in, us giving God praise, glory and honor as he give us praise, glory, and honor, when Jesus is revealed finally to all that he is God's King. (1:6-7).

Looking at Flowers: Seeing beyond Darwin's Box

I look at the meadow

And stare at the flowers

Better dressed than any girl

On her wedding day. 

                                Jon Foreman

Once when  I was talking with a handful of friends, I said that it seemed to me that God was a hedonist who had purposefuly made a world that we could delight in. The world was filled to the brim with beauty, and we were made to enjoy its pleasures. God could have restricted colors to shades of grey; everything could have tasted to us like mashed potatoes. One of my friends looked at me strangely. He dismissed my thoughts with a scientific explanation of how we discern the colors we see and disciminate the flavors we taste. 

I understood his perspective but felt like his perspective was limited by his training. If I see things the way that Jesus sees things, when I see another dimension to their physical reality. When I look at the flowers I see their beauty as an expression of God's love. There is a scientific explanation for how the flowers came to have the form and coloration that they have and a scientific explanation for how we perceive that form and coloration. But any explanation that ignores Jesus point of view, doesn't take into account the most significant reality of all: there is a creator of our world who loves it very much and has filled it with beauty, a beauty designed (among other things) for our enjoyment. 

When the light comes on: reflections on Ephesians 1, the Academy, and breaking out of the box

I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him, so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe, according to the working of his great power. God put this power to work in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the age to come. And he has put all things under his feet and has made him the head over all things for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all. Ephesians 1

The Academy compresses all life to social relations, social knowledge, and physical processes. There is nothing outside of their tightly constructed box. Any attempt to suggest that something exists outside the box cannot be tolerated.

Years ago I met something outside the box. I had been told that something existed outside the box - this was information handed down for generations by people I could trust. In fact, they said, reality that could not be measured by weight or length or isotopes was everywhere. The time finally came when I understood clearly what these people were talking about when they claimed that the world was more than a self-contained, no-exit death trap.

Being still, listening, I heard. My eyes were opened, I was enveloped in life, and my heart went electric with song.

Someone's prayer was answered. 

Somethings can only be known through revelation; without revelation there is no wisdom.

Identity

Identity has been a huge issue in contemporary culture. Maybe it also was in first century Roman culture:

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, just as he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love. He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace that he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and insight he has made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ, as a plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. In Christ we have also obtained an inheritance,having been destined according to the purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to his counsel and will, so that we, who were the first to set our hope on Christ, might live for the praise of his glory. In him you also, when you had heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and had believed in him, were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit; this is the pledge of our inheritance towards redemption as God’s own people, to the praise of his glory.  (The apostle Paul as recorded in Ephesians 1)

We know from sociological studies of these times that the first Christians were most often poor, alienated, and powerless. Paul tells them that, the fact is, they are blessed - just as Jesus told the crowds that followed him that they were blessed. Paul clearly says that their blessedness is spiritual. Their spiritual blessing is profoundly real. Their identity is completely different from what they had always believed. These followers of Jesus have been adopted by God because of Jesus the Christ. So now they are holy and blameless. They have redemption and forgiveness. And they can expect more. They have an inheritance - certainly something that they would have never have had from a physical father.

So, this is now my new identity: holy, blameless, redeemed, forgiven, and adopted into God's family. God is my father, a father who loves me completely, and Jesus is my older brother who is responsible for my new identity, my amazing good fortune. Being adopted I have a share in the inheritance. No matter what happens to me or how I am viewed by others or how I even view myself, the truth is I am blessed - blessed beyond all expectations.

Let it sink in.

Do not be afraid

 ‘So have no fear of them; for nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered, and nothing secret that will not become known. What I say to you in the dark, tell in the light; and what you hear whispered, proclaim from the housetops. Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground unperceived by your Father. And even the hairs of your head are all counted. So do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows.

                                                                                                             Matthew 10

I boldfaced typed the last sentence of Jesus' discourse because I think that everything he said before has to be seen in light of his final point. 

Here is the incredible good news: do not be afraid.

It is amazing how many times that "urging" is made and how hard it is for it to sink into my life: do not be afraid.

We have no comprehension of how valuable we are to God. We let ourselves become so caught up in secrets, in fears, in protecting ourselves. 

Just stop it.

Remember how much you are loved as inexplicable as it is. What Jesus came to tell us was that because we have this father who loves us so much, we have nothing to fear.

So, do not be afraid.

Don't be afraid of secrets, of those who you think are plotting against you, of your own secrets, of people figuring out who you are, even of being harmed in some way by those who hate you.

The God who notices the birds, loves you with all of his big, incredible heart. Do not be afraid.

The inevitable result of Idol worship

The word of the Lord came to me: You, mortal, will you judge, will you judge the bloody city? Then declare to it all its abominable deeds. You shall say, Thus says the Lord God: A city! Shedding blood within itself; its time has come; making its idols, defiling itself. You have become guilty by the blood that you have shed, and defiled by the idols that you have made; you have brought your day near, the appointed time of your years has come. Therefore I have made you a disgrace before the nations, and a mockery to all the countries. Those who are near and those who are far from you will mock you, you infamous one, full of tumult.

 The princes of Israel in you, every one according to his power, have been bent on shedding blood. Father and mother are treated with contempt in you; the alien residing within you suffers extortion; the orphan and the widow are wronged in you. You have despised my holy things, and profaned my sabbaths. In you are those who slander to shed blood, those in you who eat upon the mountains, who commit lewdness in your midst.In you they uncover their fathers’ nakedness; in you they violate women in their menstrual periods. One commits abomination with his neighbour’s wife; another lewdly defiles his daughter-in-law; another in you defiles his sister, his father’s daughter. In you, they take bribes to shed blood; you take both advance interest and accrued interest, and make gain of your neighbours by extortion; and you have forgotten me, says the LordGod.

 See, I strike my hands together at the dishonest gain you have made, and at the blood that has been shed within you. Can your courage endure, or can your hands remain strong in the days when I shall deal with you? I the Lord have spoken, and I will do it. I will scatter you among the nations and disperse you through the countries, and I will purge your filthiness out of you. And I shall be profaned through you in the sight of the nations; and you shall know that I am the Lord.

                                                                                Ezekiel 22

Idol worship, blood shed, greed, violence with the objective of material gain, all of it seems to be part of the same package. Denounced in the strongest possible terms. The inevitable result of idol worship may be the defacing of the human image. Everyone becomes an object to manipulate. How much worse when we who wear the name of Christ, who profess to worship God, secretly worship idols like Israel in the wilderness, leading us to this same violence, treating others less than human. We who trust in God trust him to give us what we need. We see our mission as taking care of creation, most especially, others who bear God's image. Therefore, there is no thought of our own gain, and if we follow the steps of Jesus, there is no thought of our own security, but rather our thought is to love, to look after the interest of others to the point and at the point of our own self sacrifice.

Trust Him and love. It's the design of the universe.

The most needed, most ignored, most trivialized, most misunderstood, least well-known teaching of Jesus?

We live our lives collecting things. Cataloging things. Desiring things. Protecting things. Hoarding things. Coveting things. It is as if we believed that things provide pleasure. And security. 

Possibly the only thing that we don't believe is that things will provide meaning for our lives. At least, I have never heard anyone claim that things give us significance. But doesn't what we pursue, indicate what we believe about our lives? In other words, doesn't what we build our lives around indicate what we think provides meaning and significance?

Jesus tells a story that has as its punch line: "The who dies with the most toys, still dies" (Luke 12:13-21). In his story the rich man does not understand that his life is something other than the pursuit of and the enjoyment of the things he has collected, and he does not really understand the significance of the fact that those things cannot provide him security against the greatest enemy, death. What is tragic about this story is not that the man dies. This is everyone's tragedy. What is tragic about the story is that the rich man never learned what life is all about, what life consists of. 

Someone might argue that according to the story the man is "only" hoarding up food. Food is necessary to our survival, right? To have ample food means to secure ourselves, right? 

Jesus' point is that the physical life that food promises is momentary at best. And his greater point is that storing of this treasure for oneself is not being rich toward God. In keeping with Jesus' other teachings, Jesus is calling for sharing crops with the poor not giving more money to the temple and priest as a religious act. What awaits the rich man at the end is not an angry God but the lostness of an man who has wasted his life.

"Life does not consist in the abundance of possessions."

Do you ever find yourself praying the prayer, "God, please, please, please, help me?"

Do you ever find yourself praying the prayer, "God, please, please, please, help me?" Or its other-centered cousin, "God, please, please, please, help them" (or him or her)?

Our hearts are often in a good place when we pray in this way. We are begging the Lord for his mercy - a practice that has a long history among God's people.

But if we find ourselves praying in this way the majority of the time, it may not indicate what we would like to think - that we are just humble beggars who are leaning heavily on God's grace and mercy. Rather, this mantra may indicate that we have made God into some sort of genie-in-a-bottle that we call on only in desperation and, then, more out of habit than faith.

There is another way of praying for ourselves and others that I am learning. It is helping me to grow in wisdom, love, and - just maybe - in favor with God and man. This other way is the way that Jesus taught us to pray.

Here is what I am beginning to understand: When someone is dying of cancer or who is completely distraught about their children's welfare or about relationships going badly or you-name-it, the first things that I need to pray for them are: 1. That they know God as their father; 2. That from deep within they count God as holy; 3. That without restraint or constraint they allow his will to be done in their lives.

Then it is time for 4. That God meet their specific urgent need as we best understand it.

After number four, 5. That they forgive all who have harmed them, and 6. That they not be destroyed, that they be preserved, be rescued from what would crush them.

I am finding that when I pray for others and myself in this way, I love the other person even more, that I am caring more about their welfare than I did before.

And I am beginning to see the world and understand our lives a little more from God's perspective.

I may be something of a broken record when it comes to this message, but I want to remind you of it because it seems so important to our lives as new creations.

Old and alone?

“Then you will say in your heart,
“Who has borne me these?
I was bereaved and barren,
exiled and put away—
so who has reared these?
I was left all alone—
where then have these come from?”
Isaiah 49: 22

God's beautiful promise to Judah is that her exile is not forever, that her exile does not mean that she is forgotten and unloved, and that as a nation she is not on the brink of about extinction.

But I think that these words are not just meant for the the Judah of the 8th century B.C. They can, and are even meant to, comfort those of us who are growing older and now feel alone. For those who believe their children are gone; who believe in their loneliness that it is as if their children had died or never been born.

God promises that the day is coming when Judah looks around and says, "Where have all these come from?" We will do the same. Children will be united with parents and parents with children and grandchildren. We are not alone.

But there's more. It's not just about a physical family.

I think that the promise for us is that through the grace of our God, we, who believe that our lives have, in the end, been meaningless, that we have helped no one, that we have been completely useless, will find that, to our great surprise, we have countless spiritual children. The time is coming when we will all be scampering about, full of joy at our reunion, at last realizing just what we have meant to each other and what we have meant to Him and what He means to us.

And we will know that we are not barren, neither are we bereaved.

The goal

With all my focus on doing well in school, doing well on the job, eating healthy, staying informed, etc., there are some things that I need to remember:

The goal is not:
1. To live long
2. To be the best student
3. To be the best teacher
4. To make the best grades
5. To know everything
6. To have all the answers
7. To be we'll respected
8. To get a certain job.
9. To make a certain kind of impact on people
10. To not be wasteful
11. To be safe
12. To be respectable
13. To have a good reputation
14. To make the most frugal use of money

The goal is:
To love the Lord our God with all my heart, soul, mind and strength and to love all others as I love myself. Everything bends to this.

Since this is my goal, I need to focus on God and others and not on all the things that I think that I need to do or learn or how I must position myself to "be a good servant." As to what I need to love Him and others, He will take care of all necessary arrangements. I must trust Him.

This is all a lesson that is very hard for me to learn, but I am so thankful that this is where He is taking us. He reigns and He will work this miracle within us - even in me!

Memorization, pt. 2

My method for memorization has been to memorize one verse at a time. Say it, and write it. Each day, I tack on a new verse, saying it and writing it along with the previous verses that I have already memorized. Recently, I memorized Colossians 1:1-17, because the first part of that passage has always seemed so mysterious, foundational, and strengthening to me: Our lives are "hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life is revealed, then we also will be revealed with him in glory." Being hidden in Christ, then revealed, is such an intriguing idea to me. I doubt that I really understand it. It sounds mystical, but it may not be.

I am beginning to work on a passage beginning with Eph. 1:16. It is about what Paul prays for the Ephesians. I want to use it to help extend my prayer life.

Memorizing Scripture

Like most kids that were "brought up in church," I memorized scriptures. In fact, in the fifth grade I memorized the Sermon on the Mount - three chapters worth!

Later on, however, when I had fallen in love with the God who loves me, I was not a fan of memorizing scripture. There are so many versions that I liked reading - which one would I use for memorization? Wouldn't I get confused by the different wordings of the different versions that I was reading? Isn't it the meaning, not the exact wording, that counts? Doesn't memorization lead to just spitting out a string of words that are known "by rote"? Wouldn't memorization take me away from life and actually lead to pride?

I'm changing my mind.

I started a few months ago memorizing scriptures. Instead of dulling my heart with "rote" mindlessness, the doing of it has had the effect of making me see familiar passages in a new way. Meanings and connections have emerged that I had not really noticed before. Instead of creating distance between me and God through pride, I feel closer to him, humbled and made quiet by his wisdom and love that comes through freshly in the words that are being planted and nourished in my heart.

Suffering for Others

Slaves, accept the authority of your masters with all deference, not only those who are kind and gentle but also those who are harsh. For it is to your credit if, being aware of God, you endure pain while suffering unjustly. If you endure when you are beaten for doing wrong, where is the credit in that? But if you endure when you do right and suffer for it, you have God’s approval. For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you should follow in his steps.
‘He committed no sin,
   and no deceit was found in his mouth.’
When he was abused, he did not return abuse; when he suffered, he did not threaten; but he entrusted himself to the one who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, so that, free from sins, we might live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed. For you were going astray like sheep, but now you have returned to the shepherd and guardian of your souls.

I Peter 2 

The idea of suffering has always been a tough one for me to accept. I do not want to suffer. It is as simple as that. But what we are called to is even tougher than that (sadly, I am not sure that I ever really understood this before). We are CALLED to suffer unjustly FOR THE SAKE OF THE ONES WHO CAUSED THE SUFFERING IN THE FIRST PLACE.

I have always focused on the command to endure suffering even if it's unjust, that we bless those who curse us, do good to those who harm us, etc. But it is more than that. We are called to suffered as Christ did ON BEHALF OF THE ONES WHO CAUSE THE SUFFERING. In this passage I think that we are identified by Peter as those who caused the unjust suffering of Christ (He bore OUR sins in his body on the cross), and yet we are the ones who have been healed. Because he did that for us, we have returned to the one who cares for, provides for, and looks after our souls (remember that souls refer to who we are). This isn't just some sort of spiritual legal transaction on God's books. Christ being willing to suffer unjustly, his torture coming as a result of our sins, touched us in a way that caused us to return to God.

We are called to imitate Christ in this way. Suffer on behalf of others, suffer unjustly at their hands, for their benefit. We live in the hope, not that they will "get theirs" but that they will return to God precisely because of our suffering unjustly at their hands. 

Will everyone be touched and respond to our unjust suffering? If people's reaction to Christ is any indication, the answer is no, of course not. But other people's response is not what determines who we are. We are people who love those who do not love us, and that is a hard hard thing for us to do or even understand. The important thing for us to remember is that we have been called to follow him in just this way: a willingness to take on unjust abuse precisely for the sake of those who abuse us.

I saw The Vow a few days ago

I saw The Vow a few days ago with Denise and Kendall. I teased them that I now know what water boarding must feel like - sheer torture. (Ok, I know that is a terrible comment on so many levels).

But I'll admit, I enjoyed the movie. While I do think the movie was at least 30 minutes too long, I really did like the definition of "hero" that you can find in Channing Tatum's character. He is keeping his vow; he loves even when he is being rejected by the one whom he loves. He is a hero. (By the way, the movie is based on a true story).

I think that we need to teach our kids to be heroes. I have been guilty of focusing on rules - "this is what God wants, this is God's will" - without helping my kids see the big picture. God wants heroes. He has designed us to be heroes. The world needs them, and we need to be them.

When you see the kind of movie that has a strong hero or heroine, usually they are someone whose love is brave and sacrificial. At a tremendous cost to themselves, they do the right thing; they love at a price; they don't care what others think of them; they only want to do what is best for the one(s) that they love. They are heroes. And we come away from the movie somehow feeling stronger and better.

Be a hero. Look at what is going on in your life today and decide that you will be the hero. You will love even when you are not appreciated. You will be brave and faithful when others think that you are stupid and out of touch. You will work tirelessly to help others whether or not anyone notices. You will not whine or indulge in self-pity, because heroes don't do this. Instead, you will pursue others' good even when you are rejected and misunderstood. You will do this, not because of any gain for yourself but because this is what love does when love loves. You will do all this, because you are a hero, being made that way by God, in the image of your older brother.

Live the big story: it's what you're made for.

Kids

 An argument arose among them as to which one of them was the greatest. But Jesus, aware of their inner thoughts, took a little child and put it by his side, and said to them, ‘Whoever welcomes this child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me; for the least among all of you is the greatest.’  Jesus

To welcome a child means to accept a child in love. It means to see the child as a whole, not only what s/he appears to be now - childish behaviors, immature, "goofy," and learning adult games - but who s/he is as a person that will one day go to school, have a job, have children of their own,  talk politics, share Christ with you, and be revealed in glory. When you welcome a child, you welcome her/him as a person of equal dignity and respect.

Thinking about family traditions that we didn't have

You must not eat with it anything leavened. For seven days you shall eat unleavened bread with it—the bread of affliction—because you came out of the land of Egypt in great haste, so that all the days of your life you may remember the day of your departure from the land of Egypt.
                                                                                            Deuteronomy 16: 3


For a long time I had not thought about the reason why the bread for the Passover feast was unleavened. But when I read this passage a couple of days ago, I was reminded that the bread was unleavened because they were in a hurry. They couldn't wait for the bread to rise. I think the lesson is: when God saves you, move! Get out of your oppression - now! Don't wait.

Every year Hebrew families would reenact this event giving parents an opportunity to tell their children about what God had done for them, why they were eating unleavened bread, and how they escaped Egypt with their lives. Jesus saw the meaning of his own death in this event. Looking forward to his resurrection and the time of new creation before he returned as King, he told his disciples to remember their salvation in the celebration of this event.

I know that as Christians we go to church and "take the Lord's Supper" on a weekly basis to remind us what Jesus did for us, the new covenant of forgiveness that we enjoy, and the fact that we are now family in the Body of Christ. It is the celebration of our salvation, our escape from sin, and, most of all, it is the celebration of the love of our Savior, Jesus the Christ. But as good as all that is in church,  I wish I had done something more "in family" - like the Hebrew people. I think that there must have been something particularly faith-strengthening in the family celebration of salvation that teaches children and reminds parents of the truths of their salvation.

What do you think? Do you think that we Americans who are not much for traditions - especially religious family traditions - can start traditions that teach and reinforce faith?

How to face failure, how to face the end

Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.... And during supper Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going to God, got up from the table, took off his outer robe, and tied a towel around himself. John 13


I love this passage - it mesmerizes me and I am so thankful for it. First, it tells me what I need to be doing until the end: loving the people that God has put into my life.

Second, it tells me how to do it: serve others like a slave, taking no concern for how I might look.

Third, it tells me the key to keeping focus when things get tough: remember that I have come from God, that I have been given "all things" and that I am going to God.

Isn't it amazing that Jesus was able to focus on the fact that he "had everything" when by all appearances, he had nothing? He was shamed and humiliated on the cross, stripped of every possession, and tortured. Looking at him, you would say that he was a complete, pathetic failure with no one beside him other than criminals.

And yet.

He knew that he had everything.

He knew where he had come from.

He knew where he was going.

So he just kept on loving.

And serving.

Dying,

He lived

And lives still.

This is our pattern and our hope.

Praise Him!

Thinking about church, community, our kids and all their families

Aunt Jan's funeral was yesterday. It was sad, moving, and glorious. Lots of crying and laughter, just like most funerals of the saints.

There was a lot of talk about the Rylie church that was the home church for Aunt Jan and Uncle Jack and mom and dad for about 60 years now. It is the church that they helped to found and where I and many of those at the funeral "grew up;" A lot of the talk was about all the good that came out of that small community, often in spite of our religious beliefs. We talked about how Rylie's saving grace was the love shown in the strength of the relationships: people stayed in the same place, were involved in each others lives, and "showed up" at each others' significant events - marriage, funerals, hospital stays, etc. I would also add that, for me, another saving grace was the emphasis at Rylie on God as our ultimate authority and the fact that the Bible was his Word, the revealing of his will. We were taught and believed that God was to be taken seriously - more seriously than anything else; therefore, pay attention to his word. This was a great thing for me, because ultimately, God used these tenets of faith to help deconstruct for me some awfully bad theology that we lived with.

Here's the thing. As great as the gift of Rylie was to us, and as great as it was to have for my entire childhood this small community of people as supports in our lives, it is God who works to produce what we need and he does that through a variety of different family, church and social situations.

I did not give my children the same church, home and school situation that I enjoyed. We did not have the same kind of lifelong friends that my parents had with Jack and Jan, going to church with them week after week, in the same place for 60 years or so. But I think that our kids did receive other spiritual advantages because of their childhood situations. They in turn will not be able to give their kids all the same advantages that they enjoyed, but they will bless their children with different blessings.

Here is the key I think for blessing our children. First, understand that it is through God that all blessings flow. He is the source of all blessings and throughout his long history with his people he has found ways to bless through all kinds of different cultural and social situations. Then, bathe everything that you do in love: love God with all your heart, always seeking to do his will, and love your neighbor as God has loved you. If you do this - and you will make mistakes and you will experience "sin interference"- still, God will bless your children's lives just as you were blessed, your parents before you, and their parents before them.

Praise be to Him!

Musings Along the Road

There's a story of Elisha in a city surrounded by enemy armies who have come looking for him. Elijah's servant is terrified. So Elisha asks God, "O Lord, please open his eyes that he may see." (2 Kings 6: 17). The servant’s eyes are opened, and he sees the hills surrounding the city filled with "horses and chariots of fire." The curtain has been drawn back, the veil between heaven and our dimension has been ripped apart, and for a brief moment an earthling sees Reality as it is.

I love the "walking along the road to Emmaus" story. Two are walking along the road on the Sunday after Jesus' death (husband and wife? two friends? family members?). Then Jesus "comes near" (a fast walker?). But they don't recognize him. They talk about Jesus' death and their own disappointments, grief and surprise at the talk that some had seen Jesus alive. He sets them straight - they haven't understood that all this was "necessary." They all stop and eat, and, Jesus, still the stranger, praying, then breaking the bread to begin their meal. Then, an electrifying moment of recognition - it's Jesus! But just as quickly, he's gone. The curtain has been drawn back, the veil between heaven and our dimension has been ripped apart, and for a brief moment new creation has been fully in view.

I was on the road to Commerce praying and thanking God for the wonders he has given us. I was imagining the creation as it is, raising its branches, shining in light, shouting its praises, bursting into song to the Lord of Glory. And I begin to wonder if the Amish were right after all. 

The Amish do not participate in "modern practices." They drive buggies instead of cars. They dress plainly and live according to rules that seem to rule out most if not all industrial products and practices. Probably because of my religious background, I had always thought they must be the ultimate restoration legalists, trying to live their lives according to first century rules, like the Rechabites of Jeremiah's time who seem to believe that the only true way to live was to live in tents like Abraham had done. 

But what if the Amish have stumbled on to a way of living that recognizes reality: the earth is the Lord's and all that is in it? That one day, the groaning creation will "will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God?" That right now it would be a good time to take care of the earth by living according to different kinds of goals and values? Maybe producing the most at all costs is not the ultimate value in life? Have they stumbled onto the fulfillment of the first command to take care of creation?

After a demented man entered one of their schoolhouses and massacred their children, the Amish community went to that man's family to grieve with them and offer their forgiveness and compassion. Even our mass media was "in shock and awe." But I am wondering - maybe a people who have not been blinded by compulsive consumerism and its justifications and rationalizations have learned to see more clearly the things that are important, eternal, and real.

What do you think about when you are hurt?

But Jesus turned to them and said, ‘Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. For the days are surely coming when they will say, “Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bore, and the breasts that never nursed.”

                                                                              Luke 23: 28 - 29

Jesus has been up all night through five different trials, has been deserted by his closest friends, and subjected to horrific abuse and torture. And when he hears the women of Jerusalem, his heart is touched by their cries. He sees what is happening to him and what is going to happen to the people of Jerusalem through the lenses of the Old Testament prophesy and his compassion is for these women.

He is not thinking about his rights.
He is not concerned about the injustices that he is suffering.
He is not focused on the wickedness of his enemies.
His mind is filled with the plight of those who will be there in 70 A.D. when the Romans will completely destroy Jerusalem after one of the worst historical sieges that has ever occurred.

When I think of how incensed I can become when I am the victim of someone's wrongdoing or thoughtlessness and how the sense of injustice "against me" can completely fill my mind and then think of Jesus in this passage, I am humbled. He doesn't just teach us God's way, he shows us.