Traveling - God's Gift

 

     Have spent some time traveling to the Creation Museum and the Ark Encounter in Kentucky. Visited la Grange, Kentucky, where railroad tracks right down main street through the middle of town. As many as 30 trains per day shut main street down. Next we traveled to Nashville where we rode tour buses and walked miles every day. 

     I took this trip accompanied by my wife and two oldest granddaughters. Part of the journey was handing out business cards and talking with people about my new novel. People at the Creation Museum and the Ark Encounter listened to me and my granddaughters courteously. It was impressive and awe-inspiring to be surrounded by so many people of our Christian faith. What a breathtaking presentation and facility at the Creation Museum. The Ark Encounter - what can I say? To see Biblical words come to life before your eyes! You must see it to gain the full effect and emotion. For our God, nothing is impossible. When he tells us to do something, there are no closed doors nor unbreachable obstacles before you.

Are you going to "die with your boots on?"

 

  What does "die with your boots on" mean? It means to work, fight, or be involved till you die. As it relates to Christians, keep serving the Lord and bringing disciples till the moment you die.
   I tell people that I retired to go to work. Today, working is more fun because I'm doing what I love - serving the Lord. I'm not holier than thou. It's just that I have a lot of bad time to make up for. My God does not chastise me for all my bad behavior nor expect me to make up for it all (that would be impossible), but your desire to serve Him increases exponentially as you gain in faith. Therefore, dying with my boots off is out of the question. My service may be light, slow, and hazy at times, but still, it's serving. Too many retired people sit around watching Judge Judy and dying. Get up and do something that makes a difference. And don't give me that my tiny pinch of service won't make a difference. That is the same argument that non-voters give for not voting. When you get 10 thousand people saying that - well, you get the picture.
   I heard someone say, "You Christians need to pick up your cross and die for Jesus. You're gonna die anyway." Wrong - our Lord Jesus defeated death. Sure you don't want to take a chance and join us? Take a chance is not the correct word to use. What chance is involved - die, and that's it, or extend your life eternally. Not much of a choice or a chance in my book.  
    Want to join the party? Jesus made it really simple - faith, and, after that, the Holy Spirit will take over from there and remodel you into a saint. You'll hardly be aware of the subtle changes until you do something like cursing your neighbor for not mowing his lawn one day. You walk into the house, and the Holy Spirit says, "Was that the way to project yourself as a living, loving example of Jesus Christ?" You turn around and walk right back out to your neighbor to say, "Sorry about what I said. Can you forgive me?" That's how it happened to me. The next thing you know, you're determined to die with your boots on.

Short End of the Stick

 

 

 

 This happened to me one Christmas many years ago, but applies to all seasons.

I hurried with the crowd of People as they bumped into one another and grumbled quietly. Impatiently, we made our way toward the Walmart entrance. Next to that entry stood a gentleman dressed in red and topped with a Santa Claus hat ringing a bell, while beside him was the traditional Salvation Army Christmas Pot. The man's facial expressions were in stark contrast to the frazzled shoppers. He smiled and sang Christmas songs as the vapors from his mouth in the cold air made him appear to be a steam-powered machine. The people passing usually kept their heads down to hide the act of not noticing his presence and what that meant. Not seeing, in their minds, made not giving okay. The brazen made rude comments such as, "You can't go anywhere without these pests asking for your money."

As I grumbled with the surrounding crowd, I noticed someone parting the crowd, like Moses the Red Sea. He emerged from the car-packed parking lot. This Moses character was a young boy hobbling on a pair of those steel crutches with arm rings to support his arms. His gait was a tortured sight of shaking and wobbling side to side. The boy's tongue hanging out added to the picture of strain on his face as he made his way across the hectic roadway toward the bell ringer.

 The bell ringer noticed the boy's perilous journey and deserted his bell ringing to offer aid. This act of kindness caused added irritation to our impatient crowd. The boy was adding to the destruction of everyone's life.  

 The bell ringer helped the young man complete his crossing and was about to help him through the busy doorway when the boy began to pull away, saying, "No, I want to ga...ooo to you pot." His head teetered back and forth as he turned to look at the bell ringer with an infectious smile.

I thought, "This kid has to be careful, or he's gonna wind up ruining this crowd's bad day."

 Understanding, the bell ringer smiled, allowing the boy to hobble to the pot. Keeping the smile, the boy stared at the bell ringer and dipped his head toward him several times. Finally, the bell ringer got it. The boy wanted him to ring the bell...and ring he did.

 After a minute or two of the bell ringing, the boy somehow contorted his arm in such a way as to allow him to get his right hand into his coat pocket. He withdrew a roll of dollars perfectly rolled to fit into the round hole in the pot's lid. After the deposit, he demanded, "Ka-keep pa-laying the bell...pa-leese."

 As the bell ringer restarted the bell ringing, the boy worked his hand back into his pocket and pulled out another perfect roll of dollar bills depositing them through the hole. He smiled at the bell ringer after each trip, who reciprocated, and the hands to pocket to hole continued through seven trips. The boy topped off his outstanding performance with an "Ah-I wanted ta ga-ive a da-dollar f-for every ba-blessing I have, ba-but that is a-all I have. Isn't Jesus' ga-giffft won-er-ful? Ah-I love ha-im sa-oh ma-uch. Ha-e's ba-less me sa-oh ma-uch." Then he waved goodbye and turned slowly and painstakingly to leave. He left no dry eyes in this mob around me, not even mine, while I tried to act like I was removing something in my eye.

 Leaving was more complicated than the coming for the young man due to the tremendous increase in the crowd. The entering and exiting at the door had come to a standstill. All eyes were on the young boy with Cerebral Palsy and that aggravating bell ringer. Jesus was heavy upon all present. Their day and mine had done a 180 turn about...all due to a previously annoying bell ringer and a crowd-slowing crippled boy and his simple act of giving all he had. The crowd's attitude toward giving was changing due to one person's simple act of giving to thank God for the many blessings he had bestowed upon him, a person most would think had received the short end of the stick. Maybe we should examine our lives more closely for blessings before we complain. I surely did.

Toss the Word Luck Out the Door!

    

 

 This is a story that I wrote long ago about luck versus God's steadfastness.

   I am trying to eradicate the words luck and lucky from my vocabulary. God does not toss a coin to see who gets anointed with the good and who gets whacked with the bad of life. As you know, our Lord told us the rain falls on the good as well as the unrepentant. You can bring all the apples to our blessed Teacher that you want, but more than likely, the closer you get to mirroring Him in action and thought the heavier the burden you'll be asked to carry. There is no luck - there is only God. I would suggest that whiners and complainers might want to work on their suffer-in-silence characteristics. We must learn to quit describing ourselves as unlucky whenever our prayers are not answered in the self-serving manner in which we sometimes approach praying. Even Einstein admitted that God doesn't play dice with the universe. It's not luck my friends - it's God's will and mercy.

     Prior to the American Civil War, circa 1856, a lucky black-slave in the deep south was in the process of being beaten mercilessly by his master's overseer. He was guilty of stealing leftover scraps of food from the plantation owner's kitchen to supplement his family's meager daily allotment, it was assumed. Each time the knots on the end of the leather attached to the whip found its target against the man's back, it tore large and deep chunks of flesh and forced the man's lungs to let out an involuntary "humph." Added to that ghastly sound, each time the whip made the tortuous connection, the man yelled out a very labored, "Thank you, Jesus. Thank you for choosing me to carry this tiny load. Thank you, Jesus.

     Remarkably and unknown to the sadist overseer and plantation owner, even though the slave's family could surely have used an increase in their daily starvation-level food-allowance, the food was actually going toward feeding a poor white-trash tenant farmer and his family. The farmer had contracted small pox and was unable to work his small subsistence-level acreage of land worn out by the plantation owner's non-rotation of cotton crops. That's all that is known from a mention in a diary of unknown authorship found after the war. That slave knew he wasn't beaten due bad luck. He was chosen with certainty to be beaten in order to have an opportunity to be a glory to God by his joyful words delivered under such painful duress.

     I don't know what real sacrifice or service is. It is embarrassing at times when I realize just how safe, secure, and pampered I live. But I do know what persecution is. And I am not persecuted my political Christian friends.

     Jesus tricked us all. It's not luck that If you love, and that love should include even your enemies, you cannot resist serving those whom you love especially when they are suffering. And that suffering isn't necessarily related to hunger. What was it our Lord Jesus said? Something about man doesn't live by bread alone. What a sly fox is our loving Lord. I'm not lucky. God does not answer my prayers randomly. I am thankful to live in the certainty of God rather than depend on random luck.

    Love you all!  Praise his holy name.

 

 

Short in Height, Tall in Courage - update

 

This new Christian novel is about true Christian soldiers; devoted to God. If you want to see how genuine soldiers of faith act when confronted by situations that complicate the demands of our Christian faith, you will want to read this book of multi-nationals in the country of South Sudan, where the powerful faiths of Islam and Christianity confront one another almost daily. In most countries, we go about our business without worrying about being physically attacked for our beliefs. Rarely are we confronted by our faith to make difficult decisions of loving our deadly enemies. Sometimes, God's answer, though painful, is to just do it and leave the judgement and clean-up to Him. Lean on our Lord for and in 'ALL' things. Love you all!

The manuscript is out to publishers for decisions. I need your prayers.

The Most Important time of the Year - Easter

 

     You can never exaggerate nor overestimate the importance of that empty tomb. The meaning is this: Jesus conquered death, and for his faithful, they will inherit his eternal life. What more should one need to say to those considering following his path?

Words!

 

     Sin in Hebrew is "hata" meaning to go astray. The farther we stray from the narrow godly path, the farther we are from God. The Hebrew word for love is hesed. Theologian John Oswalt said hesed is "...a completely undeserved kindness and generosity". The Hebrew word for grace is khen. When I took the  time to really think about and consider the word grace or khen, I went into an area of God that I have taken for granted all my Christian life. Grace means that you are kind, courteous, and forgiving. It is astounding to know that the God who created all and is, was, and forever shall be offers us his undeserved grace. I thought a celebrity going out of his way to shake my hand was gracious, but God? I'm amazed that God sees me as a treasure in spite of my behavior. These thoughts will put you to your knees when it really hits you with its deep and life-changing meaning.

     Words - words are transporters of our thoughts, visions, and memories. John1 "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." God gave us the capability to think, but thinking without communication, where does that leave us? He gave us a way to transmit our thinking, and that took us to the next objective, learning.  Learning gives us the ability to know God and to be capable of learning his truth, his desires, his ways, his love. The Word, Jesus brought us the living Word. So simple, so powerful.

     I take my ability to write very seriously, and that is why I could see no other path than to write for God. Writing for God is an honor, a blessing. I fall short of God's word in my writing, but I feel people must know the gracious God that has allowed me to know everything I am capable of understanding about Him. Communication with God, Himself. I am humbled.