Month: May 2022

I love this quote from Booker T. Washington. “A lie doesn’t become truth; wrong doesn’t become right; and evil doesn’t become good just because it is accepted by the majority.”  The founding fathers of our country did not trust a powerful central government like the one they experienced in England, so they produced a Constitution that divided the Federal government into three branches and listed the rights of our individual citizens that are protected from government control. They also didn’t trust the judgement of a simple majority of the people, so the Constitution allocates all government functions not specifically listed to each state to decide and establishes an electoral college made up of state delegates to elect the president. When he left the Continental Congress, Ben Franklin was asked, “What kind of government did you give us?” He answered, “A Constitutional Republic, if you can keep it.”

So what does that brief civics lesson have to do with the Christian life? First, in response to the quote, we must find and accept what is true, right and good in spite of what the majority around us think or believe. We begin our search by accepting Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. Our spirit is reborn and the Holy Spirit takes up residence in our heart. We study God’s inspired word and pay close attention to the prompting of the Holy Spirit. Then we establish a personal relationship with God through prayer and worship. Jesus’ teaching, life, death and resurrection; God’s word In the Holy Bible; and the guidance and counsel of the Holy Spirit are always true, right and good and the power of God’s love, mercy and grace will help you hang onto them.

Jews in Jesus’ time on Earth thought the Messiah would free them from the rule of the Roman government. When asked about paying taxes to Rome, Jesus asked whose picture is on the money and then told them to give to Cesar what belongs to him and give to God what is His. He also told Pilate that His kingdom is not of this world.  American citizens are very fortunate that our earthly government allows us to worship and speak freely.

In response to Ben Franklin’s statement, we have kept it for nearly 246 years. Our Constitution has been under fire many times by those who think they can form a better government with them in control. When I joined the U.S. Air Force at the age of 18, I took an oath to defend our Constitution from enemies foreign and domestic. That oath doesn’t expire until I do. Christian reader, wherever you live you have joint citizenship to your country and to the Kingdom of God. In that Kingdom we are all more than citizens; we are members of the royal family by the grace of God. Death is just a move to that other glorious home.

There is a song I first heard at least sixty years ago that has been running through my mind lately. “When I was but a boy in days of childhood, I used to play until evening shadows come and winding down that old familiar pathway I’d hear my mother call at set of sun. Come home. Come home it’s supper time. The shadows lengthen fast. Come home. Come home it’s supper time. We’re going home at last. Some of my fondest memories revolve around supper time, when mom would come to the back steps of our old home place and say, ‘Come on in Jimmy. It’s supper time.” How I would love to hear her say those words again. But time has woven for me the realization of a truth that is even more thrilling; when my Lord himself will stand at the portals of Glory and call, “It’s supper time Jim” and we’ll all gather around the table with the Lord himself at that greatest supper time of them all. Come home. Come home it’s supper time. The shadows lengthen fast. Come home. Come home it’s supper time. We’re going home at last.”  

I love that song for two reasons. The first is that it reminds me of what I am looking forward to when my tour of duty here is complete. It will happen on God’s time table, but I know it is getting closer every year.

The second reason it means so much to me is that those family meals at the end of the day are very fond memories of my childhood and even of my marriage. There were no electronic gadgets or cell phones that could be brought to the table to distract us from the enjoyment of conversations and good food together as a family. Even the phone on the kitchen wall was never answered during supper time. Everyone knew to call back later. Those supper times drew me closer to my parents and later to my wife.

I’m afraid many families today fail to make those precious memories. Either family members are so busy they grab something to eat on the run without setting aside that special time each evening together, or one or more of the family members are distracted by calls or texts during the meal. I know it is easier when children are young to set rules and then enjoy each other, but I was expected to be home for supper until I graduated from high school and joined the Air Force and I’m so happy I have all of those precious memories. Not everyone reading this had memorable supper times growing up, but we can all take time to enjoy them now. One of the benefits of family meal time is that communication skills are formed and we learned how to connect with other people, especially the ones we love.

Jesus continually teaches us in the Gospels how we should interact with God and other people with love and respect. Seven of the Ten Commandments deal with our treatment of others, including our parents. The other three deal with our relationship with God. We are created with a need to interact with God and with others.  God created Eve as a companion for Adam and so they could have a family. Our first relationships are with family members and they usually set the tone for all of our relationships in life. I hope you have fond memories of family meals too and/or you are making fond memories with your family today.

Brothers and sisters in Christ are family just as sure as our parents and siblings are.  When we marry, our in-laws become family as well. It is always a blessing when several of the people in our family can be counted on for confidentiality and wise advice. For me, it was my father, mother and our young pastor as I was growing up. Then my wife and my father-in-law joined that special circle of advisors. After those dear people all died, God put brothers and sisters in Christ in my life to form a new family circle for me.

For Moses, it was his father-in-law, Jethro, who provided some very sound advice. After escaping from Egypt after killing an Egyptian guard who was abusing his countrymen, Moses worked for Jethro, who was the priest of Midian, tending his flocks. Moses married his daughter, Zipporah, and they had two sons. After Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt, Jethro brought his daughter and grandsons to where they were camped in the wilderness at the base of the mountain of God. His visit and his advice are recorded in Exodus chapter 18.

There is something Jethro said to Moses that might be overlooked in a quick reading, but it is most important. “If you follow this advice, and God commands you to do so, then you will be able to endure the pressure, and all these people will go home in peace.” All advice, no matter who it comes from, must be agreeable to God in order for it to be of value when you put it into practice.

One of my sisters in Christ recognized how sick I was with Covid-19 then she asked God what she should do to help. She got me to the hospital in time and here I sit writing this blog post because of her actions. Sometimes it is action and not advice that we need. That is why we need Christian friends or relatives to be there for us with whatever God prompts them to say or do.

Do you have someone to turn to for sound advice? You do if you are a follower of Jesus Christ and a child of God. The Holy Spirit is not only our Guide and our Comforter, He is our closest Advisor. The neat thing is that when He advises us, we don’t have to run it past God for approval because it is coming directly from God.     

 Years ago when our government began removing the Ten Commandments from public buildings such as schools courtrooms, city halls and even public parks; I heard a TV preacher say that he couldn’t understand why Christians were upset about that since we are under grace and not those laws. I wondered at the time which of those God-given rules of conduct Christians shouldn’t obey? Is it OK for us to put another God before our heavenly Father; create idols; use God’s name in vain; murder; steal; lie about our neighbor; commit adultery; covet what others have; or even fail to honor our earthly parents? I don’t think so! The only possible exception might be to honor the Sabbath and keep it holy, but Christians still set aside one day each week for rest and worship, although it is normally the day of the week Jesus left the tomb (Sunday) instead of the Jewish Sabbath (Saturday). I’m sure that preacher was trying to emphasize the fact that we are saved by grace and not by following the law, but (and it is a big but) those commands are still rules of conduct for obedient children of God who are born again by God’s mercy and grace.

As I’ve mentioned many times in my blog posts, Jesus doesn’t teach His followers that we can ignore the Old Testament. In His sermon on the mount that begins with Matthew 5:1, He tells us several times that we are to be held to an even higher standard than those rules of conduct laid out in the Old Testament. Jesus says that we must not only avoid the act of murdering another person; we are not even to hate them in our heart. He teaches that His followers must not only avoid the act of adultery, we must not lust after someone in our heart. Jesus requires us, as His followers and God’s children, to not only be pure in our physical actions, but also pure mentally and spiritually as well.

How can we ever live up to such a high standard? God knows that we could never do it on our own without His help. He provides that help through His Holy Spirit. When we accept Jesus Christ as our savior and become a child of God, the Holy Spirit takes up residence in our heart. He not only shows us how to live for our heavenly Father, but He provides us with the power to do it.  

Are we perfect? No! Our salvation through God’s mercy and grace is immediate, but our sanctification is a process – a journey. As we draw closer to God through prayer, worship, study of God’s word and we learn to recognize and obey the promptings of the Holy Spirit, we become more and more like our Father, who is perfect. I have been on this journey for 68 years and I’m still not perfect, but I am so much closer now than I was when I began my journey at the age of eleven. Never compare your journey to anyone else’s. Compare where you are now to your start to see how far you have come and then compare where you are now to the perfect likeness of your Father that you hope to achieve to make sure you are still traveling in the right direction.   

What is the difference between justice and vengeance? In Exodus, we find a seemingly fair justice system that dispenses a punishment that is equal to the crime. It is described as “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth”. Basically, whatever the victim lost, the attacker should also lose. That justice was to be handed out by a judge or ruling authority. It becomes vengeance only when the victim tries to equal the score with their attacker themselves.  If carried out to the extreme, that would create a world full of blind, toothless humans without any positive results.

In this world Christians will come under attack, just like Jesus. In our country those attacks are usually verbal; false accusations and false name calling or labels with some rare violent attacks. In other parts of the world the attacks are often violent and even deadly. When we are attacked and wounded emotionally or even physically, our natural reaction is to launch a counter attack to hurt the attacker, but is that a Christian response?  If not, why?

First, when I am wounded, hurting someone else, even my attacker, will not stop the bleeding or ease my pain – it will simply make me one of them. That is their real goal to bring me back down to their level and prove that Christians are no different than they are. If I fall into their trap, I not only will still be in pain, but I will lose my Christian witness in the process as well

This is the very different way God’s word teaches us to get revenge without damaging our Christian witness or our relationship with God. “If your enemies are hungry give them food to eat. If they are thirsty give them water to drink. You will heap burning coals of shame on their heads and the Lord will reward you.” (Proverbs 25:21-22) Paul quoted that scripture passage in Romans 12:20.

Even more important for Christians, is for us to follow Jesus’ teaching and example. As always, Jesus raises the bar even higher for us. We are to love our enemies, even those who have hurt us. He demonstrated that kind of love when He asked His Father to forgive those who called for His death sentence and even the Roman soldiers who carried it out. He took upon Himself the sins of the world, including their sins when they believe in Him. We are encouraged to forgive our enemies as God has forgiven us. The difference is that when we forgive, it is for our own benefit and not for the one forgiven. Only God can forgive someone’s sins and give them new life. Only God can forgive and forget sins.

I think the best example Jesus gives us about handling rejection and mistreatment is in His instructions to His disciples when He sent them out in pairs to share His message. When any village rejected them, they were told to shake the dust from their feet and move on to the next one. What happens when we forgive and move on is that we free ourselves from the pain and rejection and leave it all behind us as we move forward in service for our heavenly Father – even the tiny remnants of that pain clinging to the bottom of our feet. That is the source of true healing. The last line of a quote found written on Mother Teresa’s wall in Calcutta says it all. “It has never been between you and them anyway. It has always been between you and God.” God bless each and every one of you who are reading this post.

This blog will be posted on Mothers’ Day 2022. I have written about my mother and my step-mother before and how much love and care I received from them. I have also written much about my wife who wanted children so badly, but had to settle for mothering our dogs as her “fur babies”. She also mothered me on occasion too. I look forward to being with those wonderful ladies when I get to heaven and I do my best to honor them by being the man they all knew I could be.

This year I want to write about the wonderful women God has put in my life since my wife died. Many of them have been caregivers furnished by the Veterans’ Administration. Most of them are young enough to be my daughters or grand-daughters, but they have treated me to the same loving care they give to their own children. My caregiver on Tuesday and Thursday now, Jan, has introduced my blog to her mother and although we have never met, she continually sends me home cooked meals that have all been delicious comfort food. I want to thank every caregiver past and present and wish them a wonderful Mothers’ Day.

There are four other beautiful Christian women God has placed in my life. They are all dear loving sisters to me, but each of them occasionally mothers me too. The youngest is my next door neighbor, Maureen. She reads my blog regularly, checks in to see how I am doing and has brought me food as well. The one who is closest to my age is Cheryl. We met at church and I helped her put her hand written book into manuscript form. We have become very close friends and she visits me in person and by phone on a regular basis. Those times of sharing are very encouraging and uplifting for both of us. The third one is Suzanne who is a friend of Cheryl’s who has become a good friend of mine. Her daughter, Charity, is sleeping in my master bedroom upstairs while she is in town. The last, but certainly not least of the four mothers in my life is Cathie. She is a retired school teacher who has become my advocate with VA. She is the one who recognized the serious effects the Covid virus was having on me and arranged for a hospital room and emergency ambulance ride to it. She called me every day in the hospital and rehab center for those five weeks and kept in touch with them to make sure I received the best care. She still calls me at least every other day to check on me and share what is going on in her life. Sometimes those quick calls to check on me last two or three hours and are filled with plenty of laughs. I credit Cathie with saving my life because I did not realize how weak or disoriented I had become and how quickly I needed treatment. Cathie has also been instrumental in getting VA to furnish me the ramp, wheelchair and power chair that I now have.

Cathie and I met in what can only be described as a hookup from God. I saw her walking down the aisle at church and mistook her for Suzanne. I asked if she want to stop by Culvers for lunch after the service and when she turned around I saw it wasn’t Suzanne. I’m sure it was the Holy Spirit who prompted me to speak to her and she said the Holy Spirit prompted her to say yes to my invitation. We had a wonderful lunch getting to know each other and have been very close ever since. Neither I nor any of those four beautiful women are looking for romance from our relationships and they know each other so our relationships are purely as brother and sisters in Christ although there has still been some mothering involved. I’m sure my wife and mother would approve of each of them.

I wish a very special day to each of you reading this who have experienced motherhood.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          

I have mentioned before that a lot of love songs can become worship songs by simply inserting the word Lord. Lately, I’ve been thinking about this old song by the Ink Spots and raising my hands in praise and worship.

“Only you (Lord) can make the world seem right. Only you (Lord) can make the darkness bright. Only you and you alone can thrill me like you do and fill my heart with love for only you. Only you (Lord) can make this change in me for it is true, you are my destiny. When you hold my hand I understand the magic that you do. You’re my dream come true my one and only you.”

So many times each day I pray to God for help and I say, “Only you, Lord!” I can’t make it even a few feet on my walker without Him holding my hand and strengthening my knees.. I can’t find that thing I have misplaced without Him leading me to it. I certainly can’t write this blog without His inspiration and guidance. Since I have become His child and have drawn closer to Him, He has spoiled me (in a very good way). Nothing can compare to the love and care provided to me by my heavenly Father.

The best part of making God our first love is that He encourages His children to love others as He loves us. Many of my prayers have been answered by the kind and loving acts of the wonderful Christian brothers and sisters He has placed in my life. I am also sure that He has dispatched angels on occasion to spiritually protect and support me.       

My Christian reader, when we obey the promptings of the Holy Spirit within us, we too become the answer to someone’s prayer. It is our highest calling and an experience that is beyond description. If you haven’t had that experience, ask God to make you sensitive to the needs of others around you. He will not only lead you to them, but He will tell you the words or actions that will answer their prayer, You will be so glad you did.  What we do for others we are doing for Him.

A friend posted this story about one of my favorite Christian heroes, Billy Graham, and I want to share it with you.

One month before his 93^rd birthday, Billy received an invitation to be the guest of honor at a luncheon sponsored by a group in Charlotte, North Carolina. Billy hesitated at first because he was struggling with Parkinson’s disease. The leader assured him they were not expecting a great oration; they just wanted to honor him as Charlotte’s favorite son, so he accepted the invitation.

After so many wonderful things were said about him, Billy Graham stepped to the podium using his walker and after a standing ovation he began to speak. “On this occasion, I’m reminded of the great physicist, Albert Einstein, who has just been named Life Magazine’s Man of the Century. He was on a train from Princeton and as the conductor came down the aisle punching everyone’s ticket. Dr. Einstein reached in his vest pocket but his ticket wasn’t there. He checked his trouser pockets, his briefcase and the seat beside him but there was no ticket. The conductor recognized him and said he was sure he had purchased a ticket. When the conductor was ready to move on to the next car, he looked back and saw Dr. Einstein on his hands and knees looking under his seat. He rushed back and told him not to worry about it. “It’s OK, I know who you are.” Dr. Einstein replied, “I too know who I am, young man. What I don’t know is where I’m going.”

“See this new suit that I’m wearing? I used to try to dress stylish, but my children and grandchildren tell me I’ve become slovenly in my old age, so I bought this new suit for this occasion and one other one. That other occasion is when I am buried. On that occasion, I will not only know who I am as a child of God, but also where I am going.”

In one of his sermons, I heard Billy say, “Someday you will hear that Billy Graham has died. Don’t believe it! I will be more alive then than I ever have been.” He not only knew his final destination, he led millions of others to join him on that trip.

My dear Christian reader, Jesus Christ has bought your ticket to heaven at a cost you and I could never afford and put us on the right track. You won’t need to present that ticket. Your heavenly Father will recognize you by the blood of Jesus on the door post of your heart and the fruit of His Holy Spirit within you.    .   

We know who we are in the sight of God regardless of what others might say about us – good or bad. We also know our final destination without checking our ticket or asking someone. Praise God for His mercy, grace and love!