Charlie Brown

… but, though he cause grief, he will have compassion according to the abundance of his steadfast love; (Lam. 3:32 ESV)

Good Grief

Charlie Brown often said it.

We say it as a socially acceptable curse.

And maybe, accidentally, we are profoundly correct.

Grief is never good.  We grieve when we notice loss.  We grieve when we are sympathetic to pain.  We grieve when news is more tearful than giggly. 

But Jesus is bigger than my grief. 

That doesn’t mean that Jesus WILL turn your sorrow to smiles today.  I don’t claim that the very thing that causes such anguish at two in the morning will cause joyful excitement at seven.  Jesus, as bigger than my grief, does not magically make the grief go away…

But it does mean two things.

First, Jesus knows your grief.  He experienced it in His thirty-three years of lowly life.  He lost loved ones.  He had to put aside dreams.  He was rejected, and lonely, and fearful.  And His knowledge comforts me.  It helps to be understood.  It is better to be known.

And second, Jesus did something about your grief.  He died for it.  He experienced, as God, the ultimate grief to fix our grief.  The resulting peace is long in coming, at times.  It is most definitely an ‘already, but not yet’ sort of thing.  But the cure has been added to the bloodstream.  The happy ending to the tragedy is right… over… there.  And at times, when I think on it, I can sense it.  And smile a little.

Not because the grief is gone yet.  But because it will be.

And the sugar in the bitter tea needs to be stirred.  And the dawn’s light needs time to become noon.  And the end of grief has been paid for.  It’s coming.  Sometimes He lets me taste it now.

-=- -=- =-= =-= -=- -=- =-= =-=

This Week

Wednesday        6:00 pm               The Joy of Eating, and Laughing, and Learning at

                                                         Jubiwednesday.    Let me cook for you.

Sunday                 10:00 am             He inclines His ear to us when we cry out to Him.  Pray with us.

                              11:00 am             Worship!  Because He is so very very wow!

May 4                    7:00 pm               Movie Night!  And popcorn night! 

9 June:  The First  Fund Raising Garage Sale!  Save up stuff you want to sell and/or get rid of!  We will be open on Friday and Saturday.  Can you help host? 

Quick Change

Quick Change

Last week it was so hot I perspired just thinking about going outside.  I put away my winter coat and warm Russian hat weeks ago.  I was wondering about wearing shorts.  Some of you did more than wonder.    It was summer-ish, if not actually summer.

And then, it got cold.  And last night it snowed.  We didn’t get any drifts, but in the Northwest they did.  One town reported nine inches.  School got canceled there.

And then it got hot.  And then it got cold.  And then…

Isn’t life full of surprising changes like that?  That cute little baby suddenly graduates from high school.  That seedling you planted on Arbor Day is now suddenly towering above your roof.  The price of gas has passed two dollars a gallon… when “just yesterday” it was under a dollar.

Some of changes took years… but other changes are like yesterday’s snow.  They not only seem sudden, they are sudden.  A sudden car accident that takes away mobility.  A sudden hailstorm that flattens yesterday’s blossoming crops.  A sudden argument that breaks a friendship.

It almost makes me feel insecure.  Things change.  Too fast.

But of course, everything doesn’t change.  Even though seas drain, planets shift, suns flare and atoms disintegrate, everything doesn’t change.  Even though colors fade, sounds are silenced, odors diminish and tastes grow bland, everything doesn’t change.  Even though Presidents lose elections, boundaries are moved, nations disappear and cities crumble, everything doesn’t change.

And snow in Mid-April reminds me…

That God doesn’t change.  That He still (as He has always done) saves only through grace because of Jesus’ death and life.  That He still loves what He made.  That He is still all-powerful.

God doesn’t change.

---- -- --- ---- -- ---- --- --

Nothing but (Great) Advertisements

Nothing But Advertisements

I am excited about some Jubilee stuff happening…

First, this Wednesday, at JubiWednesday, come for some lighter fare!  Delicious (I hope) food, and some friendly and calm March Madness.

And next week… our most full JubiWeek of the year.

Sunday

10:00 Prayer Meeting.  Start this week with prayer.  And whether you attend Sunday morning or not… FILL your week with prayer.

11:00 Worship. It’s Palm Sunday, as we recall Christ’s last entry into Jerusalem.  As He loves His people.  Come sing and shout, “Hosanna!”

Tuesday

7:00 We focus appropriately on the death and resurrection of Christ this week… but today we will notice and rejoice that His entire LIFE was necessary for us.

Wednesday

6:30 NOTE THE DIFFERENT TIME!

We will be studying the Passover.  Why did Jesus make a big deal about the Passover celebration?  What do the symbols mean? Come eat and fellowship and experience.

Thursday

7:00 The Lord’s Supper.  The heir to Passover.  What has changed?  And why?

Friday

7:00 Good Friday Remembrance

Jesus’ death frees us, fixes us, heals us, helps us, enables us, forgives us, enlightens us, defines us, emboldens us, prepares us, and demonstrates, proves, and embodies Jesus’ love.

Sunday

7:00 am He has risen!

8:00 am Breakfast!  Cooked by the men…

Tapestries and Rubic's Cubes

Colossians 2:2-4  (MSG)

"I want you woven into a tapestry of love, in touch with everything there is to know of God. Then you will have minds confident and at rest, focused on Christ, God’s great mystery. All the richest treasures of wisdom and knowledge are embedded in that mystery and nowhere else. And we’ve been shown the mystery!"

I messed up last week.  I made some decisions and did some things that to me, were obviously right.  But they started an avalanche that left me, and some whom I love, broken and confused at the bottom of life’s hill.

Rubic’s cubes overwhelm me.  I know how to solve them.  (I bought a book, once.)  But when I see that colorful cacophony of squares, my stomach freezes.  The logic behind the puzzle exercises my neurons… but the task seems to complex, tedious, and scary. 

But I have a friend who loves to complete the puzzles.  He sees the patterns differently than I do.  And so when my Rubic’s puzzle on my desk gets messed up, I ask my friend for help.

I don’t know what to say to someone who is hurting.  I don’t know what to do when all my choices seem poised to drop unintended consequences on everyone around me.   When I do choose, the effects can be staggering.  It often appears that I chose poorly.

Overwhelming.

But I serve a King who knows how to solve every puzzle.  And He is kind as well as powerful. Understanding as well as wise.  He weaves everything I don’t understand into a tapestry that HE understands, and that He assures me is absolutely, shockingly, inspiringly, and lovingly is exactly the tapestry that I needed on my wall.

NO LOST SLEEP

We’ve reached that exciting time of year… the time of year when JUBILEE DOES NOT LOSE AN HOUR OF SLEEP… but instead lose an hour of Sunday Afternoon.

We will have our regular Sunday activities AS IF we had not put our clocks ahead.  (Because we won’t need to put our clocks ahead…)  Then, when we are done with our Second Sunday Dinner, we can put our clocks ahead and join the rest of the time zone.

This week:

Wednesday        6:00 JubiWednesday

Saturday              7:00 Men’s Breakfast/Bible Study

Sunday                 10:00 Meeting for Prayer

                                11:00 Worship

                                12:15 Congregational Meeting

                                12:30 Eating Together

                                 1:30 SET CLOCKS AHEAD

March 15 7:00 pm Hobby in the Lobby Book Club: Will discuss  “The Same Kind of Different as Me.”

March 25 through April 1

        Be with us for a week of devotion, worship, and fellowship.

        March 25 Palm Sunday

        March 26  7:00 pm    Prayer and Study

                     28 6:00  pm   Seder experienced and explained

                     29 7:00  pm   Maundy Thursday

                     30 7:00  pm   Good Friday

        April  1    7:00    am    Resurrection Celebration!

                         8:00 am     Breakfast!

9 June:  The First Fund Raising Garage Sale!  Save up stuff you want to sell and/or get rid of!  Details to follow.

Good Goodbyes

Good-bye

We shouldn’t hate saying “good-bye.”

But we do.  Good-bye usually means missing someone, losing control of someone, having less contact with someone, or not having the benefit of someone’s company.

But the origins of the phrase give us some help in finding hope and pleasure in saying “good-bye,” instead of our usual attitude.

“Good-bye” is a shortened form of “God be with ye.”

And isn’t that a grand thing to be wishing for someone?

If we really are hoping that God is with someone, we don’t need to be in control of them… God is.  If we really want God to be with someone, then we don’t need to worry if they are out of our circle of communication, because God has them in His hands.  If we really are saying that as our “good-bye-ing” person goes away, we know God is with them, then they will have GOD’S company, which is so much better than our company.

And for Christians… no matter how permanent “good-bye” might seem, it isn’t permanent at all.  Because heaven looms cheerfully in our future.  We might not have the pleasure of someone for the next few days, or months, or years… but we WILL have forever with them.

Because of God’s presence, through Christ, in their lives.

And if THAT is good-bye… it ain’t so bad, is it?

All you who flounder... come unto Me

Floundering

 28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. (Matt. 11:28 ESV)

Why do I need the LS this week?

The last time I had laryngitis this bad was around ten years ago.   I was helping at a youth camp located in the forest behind Mt. Rushmore, and we were on a hike.  Somehow, I had fallen behind on the familiar path, and it had started to rain.  And it had turned cold.  And I became lost.

I had travelled the path many times, but on that afternoon every tree and every rocky outcrop seemed familiar, but dislocated.  And I began to make every mistake that a woodsman never makes.  I walked faster.  I repeatedly stopped and rotated, searching for any familiar nearby landmark.  I became afraid.

I was floundering.

And then I found my way.  Really, it was three things. First, I remembered some things.  I remembered that moss really does grow more readily on the north side of trees and rocks, and that I needed to head west.   Second, I listened.  There is always noise in the woods.  And I could hear the hints of civilization when I wasn’t wheezing and stomping.  Third, I allowed myself to feel some faith.  To trust that this path had an end, and a good one at that.  Hot chocolate, probably.

And my hope, combined with faint but clear sounds, and a deducted sense of direction saved me.  Even if I lost my voice.

And that floundering feeling is more common than I like to admit.  And that is one reason I relish the Lord’s Supper.  Because the Lord’s Supper enables me to find my way out of the rainy, cold, lonely forest.

It reminds me of something that I know.  Just like that Northern moss, remembering my Jesus can give me some clarity.  He lived, and His life gives me meaning and direction.

The Words that I hear (even when I am speaking them,) though faint in the cacophony of pains, fears, and accusations, grab and hold my attention.  Those words are what I really need to hear… He loves me, even unto and beyond death.

And that strange, irrational (but oh, so rational!) hope is present, too.  His presence warms me, fills me, enables me, holds me, upholds me, and enlivens me.

I need those things, whenever I flounder.

--- --- ---- ---- -----

Remember this week to acknowledge God’s gift of life.  And to grieve for those daily who lose their life, due to the American Abortion Tragedy.  This week we recall the Roe v Wade decision.  Have mercy, Lord… have mercy.

President Duck?

Most people remember American Presidents like Washington, Lincoln, and Roosevelt.  But we can learn things from the examples of lesser known Presidents as well.

Millard Fillmore was President from 1850 to 1853.  He became President because while he served as Vice President, President Taylor died in office.  Fillmore’s Presidency was filled with mediocrity.  He didn’t lead his nation in a new direction.  He didn’t challenge great evil.  He just was President.

He was born in a log cabin in New York.  Self educated, he eventually became a lawyer and served as a Representative for New York.  He was selected as Vice President because of his experience in the Mexican American War, and his good looks. (Queen Victoria once called him the most handsome man she had ever met.)

He inherited a Presidency of troubles.  The slavery issue was hotly debated, and Fillmore accepted a compromise offered by the main debaters in which California was admitted to the Union as a Free State, and the Fugitive Slave Act (by which slave owners were allowed to re-capture escaped slaves in a vigilante-like way) was more fully enforced.  But the end result was not contentment.  Abolitionists (those who opposed slavery most strongly) continued to ignore the Fugitive Slave Act; and the balance of power upset caused by the entrance of California became a thorn in his political side.

However, Fillmore endured to the end.  Was dropped by his Party, and after a couple of failed attempts to run as a third-party candidate, retired to obscurity.

He was the first President to have running water in the White House.  He negotiated a treaty with Peru involving bird droppings.  He turned down an honorary Doctorate from Oxford on the grounds, “that no one should have a degree that he can’t read.”  His nickname was “His Accidency.”  Political satirists made much of his first name, usually replacing it with “Mallard.”

But he was President of the United States.  And that encourages me.  Our job (as was Fillmore’s) is simply to do what is set before us.  It doesn’t always involve averting world war.  It doesn’t always involve curing the common cold.  It doesn’t always involve being amazing.

Just do your job.  The absolute best you can do.

The Millard Fillmore way.

Believing and Seeing

Believing is Seeing

“I saw Mommy Kissing Santa Clause,” sings the very excited boy.  Apparently, he had snuck downstairs on Christmas Eve and witnessed his mother kissing Santa.  Of course, we all know it was not Santa.  Although I do wonder why dad was wearing a Santa suit.  Was he on his way to an office Christmas party? 

But the boy’s optic nerves saw what he believed he might see.  Since it was Christmas Eve, a man in a red suit might indeed be Santa.  Whether he was Kissing Mommy or not.

While we often say, “Seeing is believing,” the opposite is also true.  We claim to be rational, logical, and skeptical.  But what we believe can affect what we see.  Optical illusions are the result of this.  “Seeing things” is a result of this. 

What we believe is more important than what we think.  What we believe is more important than what we see.  What we believe is more important than what we understand.  What we believe is closely tied in with who we are.

How necessary, therefore, to believe what is true.  (II Thessalonians 2:11,12)

How necessary, therefore, to be able to articulate what we believe. (1 Pet. 3:15)

How necessary, therefore, to let our senses be guided by our beliefs.

Believe and see.

Thanksgiving Eve Plans

It’s Thanksgiving Week!

Please let us know if you are planning to come celebrate Thanksgiving Eve with us this Wednesday at 6:00.

We are hoping to receive promises to bring:

Vegetables (mixed? Corn?) for 20

Stuffing (for 25)

Mashed Potatoes (for 20)

Salad (for 40)

Pie (looking for three pies)

Gravy

We have had around 70 Thanks Eaters in the past… 

Hope to give Thanks with you this Wednesday!

(Please call  or text Tom at 316 613 1327 OR answer this email with your numbers and to sign up to bring something… the ‘sign ups’ are on a first come first serve basis.)

Annoucements and Events

A Bunch of Announcements

First… Thanksgiving Eve Celebration

Wednesday, 22 November

Come celebrate in a thanksgivingy sort of way!

We will eat together, pray together, sing together, and urge an attitude of gratitude.

We plan to meet at Jubilee and begin the eating-fest at 6:00 pm.

A sign up sheet is being constructed to divide the labor among our many hands.  Let me know if you plan to come, but haven’t signed up.

ESPECIALLY we hope to see folk who don’t regularly worship with us!

Come be Grateful!

--- --- --- ----- ---

This week’s Jubi-stuff

Wednesday        8 November         6:00 Jubiwednesday… food, fellowship, and some study.

Friday                    10 November    5:30 Dinner and Eric Mataxis

Sunday                 12 November    10:00 Prayer Meeting

                                                       11:00 Worship (Psalm 8)

Further On:

22 November Thanksgiving Eve Dinner

6 December CHRISTMAS CAROLLING

24 December Christmas Eve Service (6:00 pm)

Mask Day

Hallowe’en is a time of masks and costumes.  I always liked dressing up as the kind of person I most wanted to be.  (Pirate, Super Hero, Strong and Powerful.)

But the mask didn’t change who I was.  One year I wore what I thought was the best costume ever.  I dressed as a teenaged punk.  And went to visit my grandpa, hoping to scare him a little.  When he came to the door, he just smiled and said, “hello Tommy.”

My costume didn’t fool him for a moment.

We, as Christians sometimes try to wear masks and costumes, too.

-          “good” people

-          people who have overcome sin

-          people who know what we are talking about

-          people that God is lucky to have on His team.

Bit masks don’t really fool anyone… least of all the One we are most trying to fool… God Himself.  He knows us.  And even better... He loves us.

Friends

I thought I lost a friend last week.

A baseball player that I coached many years ago contacted me.  He told me how important I had been in his life, and how fondly he remembered me.

Our electronic conversation went on for three days, each day filled with warm fuzzies and happy memories.  Each conversation seemed more intimate and open.

And then he asked me for money.

When I asked for more information about his particular need, he grew offended and broke off contact.  I think he even cancelled his facebook account.

And here is what I realized.

He had contacted me not to be a friend.  But because he wanted and needed something.

And that is not friendship or love.

I hope he finds his money.  I actually hope he responds again to my emails.

But I was reminded that love doesn’t ask, “What have you done for me lately?”  It asks, “What can I do for you?”  Love doesn’t expect anything.  Love yearns to fill others’ expectations.  Love doesn’t have a motive.  Love desires relationship.

Jesus gives us the best example of this.  While He is King of the Universe, and certainly of me, He doesn’t ask, “what have You done for Me lately?”  He accepts my poor gifts, and gives them back… and more… over and over.

He doesn’t expect anything of me. He loves me because He loves to love… not because I have done or said the right things.

He doesn’t have a motive in loving me.  He wants to be my Brother, my Lord, my Helper, my Comforter, my Stronghold, my Redeemer, my Understander, and my Friend.

I am sorry for the poor friend I often am.

And I am grateful for the good friends that I do have.

But mostly… all this makes me hold more tightly to Jesus.

All I Need

Houston… Peurto Rico… Las Vegas…  Tragedies from nature and from sin.  

We’ve all thought a lot about these events.

They remind us of the precarious balance of our lives.  We can become imbalanced and lose it all in an instant.  And that might seem scary.

I was reminded of Job’s words: “Though He slay me, yet will I hope in Him. “ (Job 13:15.)

All I need is Jesus.

Maybe that sounds simplistic to you.  But maybe it is actually more realistic.

My Jesus is all I need.  Sometimes He is not all that I want.  Or even all that I THINK I need.  But He is all that I need.

When the storms shatter… Jesus reminds me that HE moves the winds and the rain.  And that while I do NOT understand the way He weathers, though He slay me, yet will I hope in Him.

When big events, such as angry protests and crazed gunman overwhelm… He reminds me that He is more.  And that while I do NOT understand the way He overcomes… though He slay me, yet will I hope in Him.

When my failures are all my eyes and heart can see… Jesus reminds me that He succeeds.  And that while I do NOT understand the way He sees and gives victory… though He slay me, yet will I hope in Him.

When I am rejected, or ignored, or misunderstood… Jesus reminds me that He knows me.  And that while I do NOT understand the way He moves men’s hearts… though He slay me, yet will I hope in Him.

All I need is Jesus.

The Rise of Fall

34 "Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself.  (Matt. 6:34 ESV)

I used to hate Autumn.  Almost as much as I despised Winter.

When the leaves started to turn bright and fall from their twigs, I knew that soon the limbs would be empty and deadish.  And it made me sad.

When the temperatures started to drop (after the temporary glory of Indian Summer,) I knew that while jackets were now almost necessary, soon the bitter blasts of icy breezes would force stocking caps and gloves onto my shivering extremities.

When the sun shuddered upward with an ever more lazy slowness, I knew that soon the daylight would become weak.  And brief.  And almost useless.

Autumn was the foretaste of dreaded Winter.  And I hated it.

But recently I have changed my mind.  I discovered that my eyes were focused too far ahead.  Autumn does indeed mean that Winter is Coming… but it’s not here yet.

And Autumn has beauties astounding.

Those brightly colored leaves, while perhaps the tree’s last hoorah before sleep, are an optical giggle that makes the heady heat of summer seem pale and dull.

The cooler temperatures allow walks without shielding shade, bacca ball in the backyard without sunburn, and picnics that don’t bring ants, or warmed watermelon, or even hastily soured mayonnaise.

And the falsely shortened day… makes it easier to fall asleep.  And oh, how I like sleep!

So this year, I don’t mind autumn.

It’s a gift.  And I would be foolish to push quickly through the first present under the (soon arriving!) Christmas tree, just because there is another gift still to come.

First Responders?

For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.' (Matt. 25:35-36 ESV)

First Responders

 Something happened recently in Houston and in Florida.  People helped each other.  It didn’t make the news as often as the tragedies did.  The professionals who courageously risked life and limb to rescue the troubled certainly got more spotlights and fame.

 But the real heroes to me were not the ones with titles and positions.

 The heroes were the ones who showed that they loved by doing what needed to be done, instead of waiting for the uniforms or depending on someone else.

 Maybe we need to change the phrase that we use to describe the professionals and uniformed from First Responders to Second Responders.

 It’s a mindset, really.  One that has become rare in our communities.

 When someone needs help, we call in the experts.  When someone is in trouble, we depend on the paid professionals.  When disasters strike we look around and hope someone ELSE, someone safer, someone trained, someone experienced, someone skilled will do the heavy work.

 I agree that at times we need help from experts.  I acknowledge that dangers are dangerous.

 But rather than let someone else respond first… we should.  While we wait, help.

 When someone is hungry, feed them. Don’t expect government agencies to provide food first.  When someone is thirsty, hook up your own water hose, don’t wait for the Water Department to arrive.  When someone is sick, offer compassion and a hand to hold, don’t just send them off to the hospital.  When someone is afraid and lonely in prison, get in your car.  Don’t just depend on the Prison Ministry Organizations to be the face of Jesus.

Be a first responder.

Work Day

Work Day

“By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread.” Genesis 3:19

Labor Day isn’t on most people’s list of top ten holidays.  It doesn’t have the childish thrill of Christmas.  It doesn’t have the nostalgic wonder of a birthday.  It doesn’t have the sweet sentimentality of Thanksgiving.  It doesn’t have the prideful excitement of Independence Day.

In fact, many of us have negative memories associated with Labor Day.  It was the holiday coincided with the beginning of a new school year.  It was the holiday on which we put away summer toys and got out autumn lawn care tools.  

And for me, it got worse when I got older.  I learned what Labor Day was celebrating.  Dwelling as I do, on the conservative side of most political, social and intellectual issues, it frustrated me to see our nation celebrating (according to the World Book Encyclopedia) the “accomplishments of organized Labor Unions.”  

But lately, I have reconsidered my attitude towards Labor Day.  I have chosen to celebrate it as a day to be thankful for work.  

Which perhaps might seem strange.  Why celebrate “work?”  Why celebrate the sweat, toil, and tears that we ceaselessly endure in order to provide bread, shelter, and a bit of pleasure?

We should celebrate “work” because work wasn’t intended by God to be sweat, toil, and tears.  God invented work when He created Adam.  Adam worked in Eden because it was part what it meant to be created in the ‘image of God.’  (God works… and so Adam worked.)  Adam worked in Eden because doing is a necessary part of living.  Adam worked in Eden because he found self-fulfillment in his work.  Adam worked in Eden because there was work that needed to be done.

And back then, work was pleasant.

It was only after Adam’s rebellion against God that work changed into something unpleasant.  After Adam chose to follow his own advice, instead of God’s, God said that work would now be different.  It would be hard.  It would hurt.  It would be monotonous at times.  It would be dangerous at times.  It would be something to despise, instead of something to find meaning through.

And so work has become hard, painful, monotonous, dangerous and despicable. 

But Jesus changes that.  The salvation that Christ brings is more than just an invisible, internal, incomprehensible change in our souls.  It has results that are visible, external, and comprehensible.  He came to return mankind to the way we were in Eden.  Except wiser, maybe.  

The change is not complete, obviously.  We still see the effects of Adam’s choice every day.  Cancer, weeds, decay, tornadoes and droughts are all effects of Adam’s profound original Sin.  BUT… Christ came to fix things.

Our work is simply one sphere of our lives that we need to bring under the authority of the Lord.  He is transforming and restoring it in the same way that He is transforming our conscience, our attitudes, our understanding of Him, our relationships, and our tonguales.

We can aid that process by altering our view of work.  Don’t see it as suffering.  See it as a wonderful chance to serve someone.  Don’t see it as something to endure.  See it as a way to demonstrate who we are.  Don’t see it as something horrible.  See it as something self-fulfilling, God-honoring, and world-changing.

Happy Work Day!

Jesus answered, "I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out." (Lk. 19:40 ESV)

Shouting Stones

I telephoned one of my Seminary professors last week.  And after talking to him, I contemplated the effect he has had on me.  When I teach, I yearn to teach like him.  I admire and sometimes copy his sense of humor.  I compare what compassion I have to the unconditional compassion he showed to struggling students.

What I do… often points to Simon Kistemaker.

But I don’t think I’ve ever actually said so, until this moment.

So really, I didn’t point at all.

Yesterday I watched the moon eat the sun.  I contemplated what lessons might be learned about a geo-centric understanding of yesterday’s events, as opposed to a solar-centric.  I was amazed at the silvery reflected light, the stillness of the atmosphere, and the spooky mid-day twilight.

I noticed the focus of everyone on the event… whether observers were lying on the ground wearing dark glasses, or walking along trying NOT to look at the dangerous light-source… from twelve-thirty until one-thirty, the eclipse was the focus of Kansas.

The eclipse declared the glory of God.  But it's even better if we actually say so.

Our thoughts, our words, our pointing are why the eclipse happened.  Perhaps that makes some folk feel better.  The eclipse did not marshal in any apocalyptic era.  The eclipse did not usher in a new age.  The eclipse was not the first stroke of a magical ‘x’ across the map of the United States that foreshadows any sort of end time.

The eclipse was simply three huge stones crying out in praise of creation’s God. 

Maybe because we have been too silent.  But we don’t have to continue to be silent.

Go Humans!

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, (Rom. 8:28 ESV)

I think I might be a humanist. 

Don’t worry, I don’t mean the kind of humanist that has come to mean choosing the ‘human’ side in the ‘humanity-divine’ debate. 

I mean that I choose the ‘personal’ side in the ‘personal-event’ debate.  I deny that events have more power than a person.  I deny that events force us to do something, be someone, or respond sometime. 

My joy comes from how we choose to perceive what is happening. 

Bad things happen all around us.  Difficult days are common.  Tragedies, accidents, and troubles abound.  But it is up to us to choose how we will respond. 

I am not suggesting we imitate a silly Pollyanna.  “Yay!  That lightning just hit my house and burned it down!  Yippee!”  I am not suggesting we deny that problems are problems. “Wow!  This broken neck of mine sure is super-duper!”  I am not suggesting that we ignore our sufferings. “What flood in the basement?  I don’t see any water!”

I am instead suggesting that we see events in a Biblical perspective.

Realizing that God is God, we can trust that even the hardest of days, the worst pains, the scariest of moments are somehow something that God is doing because He loves us.

Maybe humanist isn’t the best word to describe this attitude.  Or maybe I am trying to reclaim a good word with good meaning.

But events don’t make you.  You choose what effect they have on you.  People (humans) win in the personal-event debate.

Go, Humans!

He Understands

God understands us.

Sometimes when a friend tries to offer sympathy, the loneliness of our sorrow pushes them away.  They don’t understand, we think.  They haven’t experienced what we are going through, and their sympathy seems forced or artificial.

Tragedy brings out this reaction, particularly.  Our sorrow is our own, it is easy to believe.  No one understands the depth of our suffering and sorrow.

Until we find someone whose experience is worse than our own.

Recently we heard of a young couple, married the day before, who were in a traffic accident that took the life of the husband, and eventually the life of the wife.

I can’t imagine the thoughts and emotions of that couple’s parents.  When trying to phrase words to say (because it IS always better to say something, even when such speaking is hard,) I realized that I have not experienced the death of an adult child.  It is contrary to all expectations.  The depth of their sorrow must be indescribable.  What could possibly be said to them by one such as I… when I don’t understand.

But then I recalled another whose adult Son died.  

God understands.  Because He has experienced.

And He says, “I will never leave you, nor forsake you.”  He sings about His rod and staff comforting even in the dark valley of death.  He promises that while this couple appears lost to us… to Him they are not lost.  But they are with Him.  Where they need to be. 

He understands.