A few summers ago, Claudia and I along with a few friends drove up to Tombstone Pass, parked and hiked the trail to the Iron Mountain lookout tower. Beautiful at every turn, the trail first goes down through a cedar forest then up through at least three eco-zones until it emerges onto a bald summit with glorious views. From the top we could see where we began and where we then stood and what laid ahead back to our car. A very fun day.

Some parts of scripture are like that. We gain perspective on our life, past, present and future in just a few words. The first two verses of Romans 5 are just such a place.

We discover that as a Jesus follower, God has crafted a past that has freed you, a present that emboldens you, and a future where all is made right. This makes sense of a chaotic world and fuels a person to rise each day and follow him.

Paul, in the opening chapters of his letter to Roman believers, lays out a deep explanation of salvation and how we come to where we are. Now he distills so much into two verses.

Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory.

WOW. What a passage that sums up life in Christ and how that works in the rough and tumble of the world. Paul spotlights out our past, present and future.

Our Past: That’s found in the first sentence of the passage. We’ve been “made right” or justified because of the love of Jesus for us and the result is “Peace with God” once we believe in Jesus as our savior. The war is over. There is no longer any need to work to live well enough so as to earn his pleasure, He just loves you and Jesus made it all possible. That position of peace with God happened and carries on through life. And it’s a staggering thought that, with all our junk, says we are reconciled with him because of Jesus.

Our Present: The sense of the next words is that Jesus has ushered us into the throne room of the universe and introduced us, not as a groveling subject, but a loved child of God who continues to mature for all one’s days. “Grace” in this version is translated “undeserved privilege” and that is a fine description of our state given that we have been chosen, adopted, accepted, redeemed and forgiven. And Paul says that this is “where we now stand.” Now, that’s encouraging! Not only are we on good paper with God, but we’ve been lavished with amazing benefits because of that. Clean and confident without any hint that we earned any of it.

Our Future: With confidence and joy, we face all that life brings with hope that we will share in all of God when the clock runs out. He has promised to make all things right, and we hold a share in his plans. Anticipation is a good term for our attitude toward the future. It is a future of action and good work, of “back to the garden” kind of living, where everything is made right.

…but what difference does this make in the rough and tumble of life? I’d bet my lunch money that every person reading this has recently or is currently facing an insurmountable obstacle of some kind or another. I am. Mine is so huge that only God…I’ll let you finish the thought.

It’s interesting that Paul doesn’t continue with his lofty theological ideas, but immediately takes what he has just written out for a drive on the roughest roads to see if the wheels will fall off. What Paul writes in the next verses gives some context that can help navigate through these obstacles, even when no resolution seems to be near in our sight. Take a listen.

We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.

Like Jesus’ brother, James, Paul calls on believers to “count it all joy” or “rejoice” when the toughest times come. Why? It’s because of the truths in verses 1&2. Our standing and future in the kingdom of God frees us up to see trials as tutors, not tormentors building in our lives that which can be learned nowhere else.

It’s worthwhile to follow the progression he lays out.

“Problems and trials” in the Greek is simply pressure. You’ve felt it. It’s like being a grape in a press squeezing out your very life juices. He says to rejoice when it’s your time in the press because it develops “endurance.”

The word translated endurance simply means “to remain under.” Not squirming out, running away, dodging and dinking, but faithfully sticking and staying with what you know is best. A dude who used to attend our church runs ultramarathons, some over 100 miles long. Explaining how he kept going, he said that often he just needed to “embrace the suck.” Enduring trials, sometimes, is just like that.

Why? Certainly not because we are to be masochistic in life, because Paul writes that endurance “develops strength of character.” Proven, tested, cleansed of much of what is trivial and use-less. The same word was used for the purifying process of metals through the crucible processes that scraped the bad from the good. A person who knows who they are in Christ and who stays under the pressure is purified. You’ve met them. You are, trail by trial, becoming one of them. Their value to others as they showcase God-in-life is beyond measure.

These folks who know who they are and who have gone through the fires, faithfully, are people of hope. Hope for the ultimate redemption of all things. And that hope does not disappoint. Jesus promised in John 16 that the God the Holy Spirit will be our encourager, reminder-er, our constant source of the love of God.

I want to be that kind of person who grows under pressure.

• A person who walks daily knowing who I am: Made right, standing in grace, living in hope.

• A person who never assumes because of faith that my life will be easy, but might even be harder than many, yet still staying the course.

• A person who sticks and stays to what I know is right, but with humility and grace, not arrogance and judgment.

• A person who looks to be better and more hopeful and more loving to others.

Join me?

Music for the week

Thanks, Dolly

Oh, Tom…You still got it

This is good, Mr. Franklin

Miss Shirley Brown

Once more with Dolly…and Zach

…and a couple of lame jokes

A pastor was visiting a woman who was about to die.

He asked her, "Do you want anything special at your funeral?"

The woman said, "Yes, at the end of the service, please take the bouquet of flowers off my casket and throw it into the crowd to see who is next."

**********************

A young man was walking through a supermarket to pick a few things when he noticed an old lady following him around. Thinking nothing of it, he ignored her and continued on. Finally, he went to the checkout line, but she got in front of him.

"Pardon me," she said, "I'm sorry if my staring at you has made you feel uncomfortable. It's just that you look just like my son who just died recently."

"I'm very sorry," replied the young man, "Is there anything I can do for you?"

"Yes," she said. "As I'm leaving, can you say 'Goodbye mother'? It would make me feel much better."

"Sure," answered the young man. As the old woman was leaving, he called out, "Goodbye mother!"

As he stepped up to the checkout counter, he saw that his total was $127.50. "How can that be?" he asked, "I only purchased a few things!"

"Your mother said that you would pay for her," said the clerk.

Back earlier this summer, as the rain slashed against our windows and the lightning boomed nearby, Claudia and I settled in on the couch, warm and dry, to do some Netflix therapy. We watched a Rom-Com called Letters to Juliet where the predictable story arc unspooled. The characters and slow development of the tale made it an enjoyable diversion.

At the end, when much seemed wrapped up, one character read aloud the letter written by another about love lost and then pursued afresh. What struck me was how it started. Here’s what I recall the actress read at a wedding feast.

“What” and “if” are two words as non-threatening as words can be. But put them together, side by side, and they have the power to haunt you for the rest of your life. What…if. What…if. What if?

What transpires in the film after this warms the heart as all loose strings are tied up and everyone lives happily ever after…just like real life (yeah, right). But for me, the letter spurred some thought.

What if?

Often our faith life is like the old PacMan character who chomps his way along from one piece to the next without much thought. This phrase makes me stop and think. Stop and think of the practical implications of what I say I believe and not only living today then on to the next.

What if it’s all true?

Would I live differently? Is my faith just an add-on as part of a decent life? I noodled a few “what ifs” and you will have many others.

• What if I really am God’s welcomed child, beloved in all my brokenness?

• What if a whole new life was the point and not just new systems of religion?

• What if the way up really is the way down?

• What if God’s saving grace is so far beyond my little theological box?

• What if the fruit of the Spirit really is to be our calling card and not just for special occasions and gifted people?

• What if what is mine is meant to be shared, not hoarded?

• What if the way of Jesus is more important than my preferences or politics or opinions?

• What if I didn’t cave to fear?

• What if this life, as good as it is, only is a foretaste of the better to come?

• What if…

Let’s take a minute and tease out three of these in our time together.

First, what if I really am God’s welcomed child, beloved in all my brokenness?

How might I live differently if I understood more of all that has been given to me? I am free. Do I really grasp the greatness of Jesus introducing me to the Father and being seen as an adopted child? Then free to walk a life worthy of my new name, not to please a God who measures behaviors for acceptance. God loves you. Period.

God loves you. That’s a well-worn phrase so familiar that it can come across lacking the punch it deserves. Imagine that the God of all who reigns and rules, looks on you and…smiles. We are not the cringing creature before a severe god, but more like a frightened three year-old waking his father in the middle of the night, and drawn in for a hug and reassurance of our safety in his presence, not shoo’d off as a bother. That God, the one who died for you, loves you.

John nearly explodes with this in his first letter.

See how very much our Father loves us, for he calls us his children, and that is what we are! But the people who belong to this world don’t recognize that we are God’s children because they don’t know him. Dear friends, we are already God’s children, but he has not yet shown us what we will be like when Christ appears. But we do know that we will be like him, for we will see him as he really is. And all who have this eager expectation will keep themselves pure, just as he is pure.

Paul dogpiles on this in Colossians 3.

“Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.”

He goes on to challenge folks to live this out with behaviors that match their position, working from the inside, out. This looks like all the good behavior lists you have heard before, but set in a context of living more and more like Jesus and less and less like what you say you have left behind.

So now we are both free and bound. Through Jesus, we are free from so much and at the same time bound through love to a Savior who invites all to follow him in a new way. Ponder for a bit how you might live differently if all this is true.

Next, What if the way of Jesus is more important than my preferences or politics or opinions?

Our days are driven by the drumbeats from so many voices who want our devotion. It can be seductive to fold our faith life into the mold of my cultural or political stances. I am extremely disturbed and disappointed over how thoroughly many in the evangelical church have chosen to jump on the bandwagon of the most conservative form of politics.

Cultural forces on both sides of the street strive to make Jesus into either a MAGA supporting nationalist, or on the other side a progressive socialist justice warrior. Neither mirror the way of Jesus. It’s worth it to remember that Jesus wasn’t white, was in some ways homeless, had been an immigrant as a child, and refused to join in on the political tug-o-wars of his day, and held his harshest criticism for the religious crowd.

Regardless of you political persuasion, the way of Jesus calls his apprentices to love enemies, influence society for good, share resources, cross cultural walls all the while looking for a kingdom yet to be revealed. The way of Jesus is by its very nature, counter-cultural. What might it look like if we followed the way of Jesus? What if?

One more. What if the fruit of the Spirit really is to be our calling card and not just for special occasions and gifted people?

Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Quite the list, especially when laid up against our life at any given moment. A life walking in harmony with God, Paul says in Galatians 5, will naturally carry these qualities.

This isn’t a matter of trying hard to produce these, rather, this is the fruit naturally coming from a life in step with Jesus. In the chapter where this is found, Paul talks about what comes from a life given to any and all desires as opposed to what comes from a life intent on a God-oriented life.

There’s a pastor in Denver who made his own bumper sticker for his rig. It simply says, “FRUIT HAPPENS.” All of us produce fruit, Jesus tells us, but good fruit comes from healthy trees and bushes and vines. When we are aligned with FatherSonSpirit our fruit will look like him, naturally. If fruit happens, what am I growing?

Look at the list again.

• Agape love: willed, chosen and unconditional sprayed about with abandon

• Joy: a deep sense of wellbeing apart from circumstances

• Peace: anxiety-free living convinced that God is able

• Patience: the ability to endure, to remain in place with people and life

• Kindness: wanting the best for everyone you come across

• Goodness: a solid life where what is seen matches what is said

• Faithfulness: stubborn loyalty and devotion to the stuff that matters most

• Gentleness: strength under control and used for good

• Self-Control: the will and action to govern desires

Again, these aren’t a list to be worked on, like building a deck a board at a time, but come naturally when we walk in the Spirit and can function well as indicators of our faith-health. If a believer isn’t having these show up in daily life, a self-check is in order.

So, friend, what if? God welcomes your questions and wonder your wonders. Ask away. Oh, the places you will go.

And, Letters to Juliet is a worthy, predictable and enjoyable diversion on a rainy evening. Curl up on the couch and veg.

Music is always good

A bit of Ska is always good

A bit long but fascinating. Jacob Collier

Remember Andre Crouch?

Still Waters

Chain Breaker

Jokes for the week

A woman woke up one morning, looked in the mirror, and saw she had only three hairs on her head.

"Well," she said, "I think I'll braid my hair today."

So she did, and she had a wonderful day.

The next morning she looked in the mirror and saw only two hairs on her head.

"Hmm, " she said, "I think I'll part my hair down the middle today."

So she did, and she had a grand day.

The next day she saw that she had only one hair on her head.

"Okay," she said, "Today I'm going to wear my hair in a pony tail."

So she did, and she had a fun, fun day.

The next day she woke up, looked in the mirror, and saw that there wasn't a single hair on her head.

"WOW!" she exclaimed. "I don't have to fix my hair today!"

Attitude is everything!

***************

As they wait for the bus, Mother tells little Johnny to say he's 4 years old if the driver asks, so he can ride for free.

As they get into the bus, the driver asks Johnny how old he is.

"I am 4 years old," Johnny replied.

"And when will you be six years old?" asked the driver.

"When I get off the bus."

Woody Allen supposedly said, “Life is hard, then you die.”

When I turn one way, I see a younger friend ambushed by cancer. Looking the other direction and there is a family quietly grieving while standing in the ashes of their burned home. To my left is a believer caught up in what looks to be a collection of self-inflicted wounds that he can’t seem to escape. And behind me cues up a line of folks each with a stories hard to hear and even harder to understand.

Maybe Woody was right.

But then an old hymn crossed my path a bit ago, written in 1882, by Priscilla Jane Owen called Will Your Anchor Hold? It got me to thinking. The first lines set the tone.

Will your anchor hold in the storms of life?

When the clouds unfold their wings of strife?

The vivid imagery draws from Hebrews 6:18-20. Take a gander, then read it again.

Therefore, we who have fled to him for refuge can have great confidence as we hold to the hope that lies before us. This hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls. It leads us through the curtain into God’s inner sanctuary. Jesus has already gone in there for us. He has become our eternal High Priest in the order of Melchizedek.

Owen assumes hard times are a part of life and so picks up the image of a “strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls” that holds a believer solid no matter what storm rages. Our ships are meant to sail, not kept tied up in the harbor safely out of harm’s way, but out in the waves exposes every boat to the dangers of the sea. The hymn asks a searching question: What will you rely on when the storm’s fury bears down?

Sea anchors slow and steady a sailing ship in a storm and keep it from being swept away and onto the rocks. Our savior, Jesus, is our anchor: Strong and unyielding. Hidden deep and unseen, but able to hold. He is our stability no matter what life batters us with. The hymn repeats this note of assurance, in the midst of, not after the danger has passed.

We have an anchor that keeps the soul

Steadfast and sure while the billows roll;

Fastened to the Rock which cannot move,

Grounded firm and deep in the Saviour’s love.

Our “Rock” is all of who God is, and Jesus is the visible representation of the invisible God. Reviewing him as resource for life always helps us stand strong.

• He is the one who created you.

• As the good shepherd he knows your name, protects you from any threat, and laid down his life for yours.

• He demonstrated his love toward us long before we turned toward him.

• Our Brother, Jesus, opened a way to life, now and forever after.

• He went ahead to prepare a place for us and left us with God the Spirit to guide and encourage and empower those who follow for all they will face.

Our Anchor snagged on this Rock holds us firmly while the storm rages all around and tosses our little boat. The tossing is real, but so is our assurance the rock will hold. You’ve seen this in action in the lives of those who face the terrible with a grace and endurance that comes from confidence in their anchor, Jesus. They don’t hope for an easy life, but for a life convinced that God is at work in the midst of the mess

Storms are inevitable. Strong tides and hidden reefs threaten the worst outcomes, and we seem to be at the mercy of winds and waves and dangerous seas. He invites us to trust in his ability to hold us firmly in his grace, learning to trust more all through the trial. And as we grow in trust, our character matures, deepens and is refined.

So then, dear friend, it makes sense that some 365 times the bible has a version of “don’t be afraid” in the text. It’s almost as though that thought is to be a daily reminder of how we are not alone, even in the worst of days. Our anchor holds.

Priscilla Jane was onto something. This turns out to be something key to your life and mine (you can hear the hymn in the clips below). Our anchor holds in the Savior’s love.

The next time the storm rocks your world, remind yourself of your true security, Jesus, and that he holds you now and always. Try that on for size this morning. Your anchor holds!

Music? We got it right here…

Wellerman

Stand By Me

The Moldau: Amazing Sights and Sounds

Speak the Name Behind Walls

Will It Hold?

And bad jokes? Sure, you betcha

There was a little boy named Johnny who used to hang out at the local corner market. The owner didn't know what Johnny's problem was, but the boys would constantly tease him. They would always comment that he was two bricks shy of a load, or two pickles short of a barrel. To prove it, sometimes they would offer Johnny his choice between a nickel (5 cents) and a dime (10 cents) and John would always take the nickel - they said, because it was bigger.

One day after John grabbed the nickel, the store owner took him aside and said, "Johnny, those boys are making fun of you. They think you don't know the dime is worth more than the nickel. Are you grabbing the nickel because it's bigger, or what?"

Slowly, Johnny turned toward the store owner and a big grin appeared on his face and Johnny said, "Well, if I took the dime, they'd stop doing it, and so far I have saved $20!"

****************

Yesterday I was buying 2 large bags of dog food at Wal Mart. I was about to check out when a woman behind me asked if I had a dog. What did she think I had - an elephant?

Since I had little else to do, on impulse, I told her that no I didn't have a dog, and that I was starting the Purina Diet again, although I probably shouldn't because I ended up in the hospital last time. On the bright side though, I had lost 50 pounds before I awakened in an intensive care ward with tubes coming out of every hole in my body and IVs in both arms.

I told her that it was essentially a perfect diet and that the way that it works is to load your pockets with Purina nuggets and simply eat one or two every time you feel hungry and that the food is nutritionally complete so I was going to give it a try again. (I have to mention here that everyone in the line was enthralled with my story by now.)

Horrified, she asked if I ended up in intensive care because the dog food had poisoned me. I told her no; I had stopped in the middle of the parking lot to scratch my fleas and a car hit me.

I thought the guy behind her was going to have a heart attack, he was laughing so hard.

Wal Mart won't let me shop there anymore.

Think back to how many times you didn’t know what to say.

• At the hospital bedside

• In the reception line at a funeral

• Over coffee as a friend shares a heartbreak

• After the wildfire burns down a house

I don’t know about you, but my fall-backs in hindsight too often end up being verbal marshmallows, filling the air but not really satisfying anyone. I want to say something, anything, that might help in some way, but what often comes out is less help than I intend. Actually, the words we think will help can do more harm than good. Relying on cliches or quick fixes dishonors pain in an attempt to sidestep trauma.

It’s interesting to follow how Jesus acted when confronted with a tragedy, even though he knew it would turn out differently from how it appeared. In John 11, we find Jesus at the tomb of his friend Lazarus, and he didn’t rush to find the right words. Even though he knew the outcome, he simply wept.

The shortest verse in the bible tells volumes.

Jesus had told his crew that Lazarus’ death would not be the end of the story. Something bigger was coming and they will have a front-row seat to it all. Think about the mind of Jesus, knowing his close friend would walk out of the tomb alive. Why tears? Why not go straight to the party?

I heard a guy say a line one time about this moment of drama.

Knowing something is going to be okay eventually doesn’t cancel out the fact that it isn’t okay right now.

Jesus didn’t skip the tears on the way to the miracle. He chose not to rush past Mary and Martha and their grief, and the rawness of the scene clearly comes through.

The conclusion to this drama did not overwhelm the disappointed sadness these women carried as they stood before him. This was an awful moment, and one we all have or will share, and Jesus lived in that moment before moving ahead. Part of the human condition is that we will necessarily shoulder times like these, when our faith tells us that it will work out but right now we are consumed by emotional pain and loss.

This is what it looks like to live and walk and figure out a way through all of our unfinished stories.

But back to you and me when we are standing before a “Martha” consumed by a terrible moment, we are wise to consider our words. What might we say when we don’t know what to say? What can convey truth and hope without dismissing pain and loss?

Perhaps just sitting with your friend is the best plan. Then when it’s time for words, here are some ideas to possibly employ…

• Instead of saying “Everything happens for a reason.” Consider, “I am so sorry, this is terrible.”

• Rather than, “I know how you feel.” Try on, “I don’t know what to say, but may I just stay with you for a while?”

• When it seems like it’s good to remind, “You just need to trust! Pray for a positive outlook.” How about, “What you are facing would hurt the best of us. I hate that you are going through it. But you aren’t alone.”

It’s important to remember “Everything happens for a reason” is never found in the bible, however, lament often is. The psalms are filled with people yelling at, crying out to, pleading with God as they wrestle with a bad stretch of life-road. Remind yourself that we are allowed, even encouraged, to grieve, whether in silence or sobs.

Another scene from the Book that shows how this can look. Remember Job? In the aftermath of his catastrophes a trio of friends come to him, and his devastation is such that they hardly recognize the once-proud man, formerly so full of life. Now, picture him slumped in the dust and the unshadowed glare of his situation. He is silent in his grief. Listen to the text.

And they lifted up their eyes from a distance but could hardly recognize him. And they lifted up their voices and wept, and each one tore his robe and they threw dust over their heads into the air. And they sat with him on the ground seven days and seven nights without speaking a word to him, for they saw how great was his pain. (Job 2:12–13)

This sitting in silence for seven days is the Jewish practice of sitting shiva, in order to share grief in long moments without words. We (I) so often run toward explanations, reasons, solutions while what is missed lies in simply letting the weight of the moment do its work. Job needed the silence. But still, silence with a grieving friend calls for strength to just be present which is more difficult than yammering on.

During one of my surgeries, Claudia told me of a friend who sat with her in the hospital lobby. Just sat. I think I recall that she talked a little and might have knitted. That’s all it took to stand alongside in faithful presence.

I read something recently from Richard Rohr along these lines that rings true.

Silence requires us to be present to the unexpressed needs of others, needs of which they may themselves not yet know. It is a powerful means of fostering mutual encouragement among us, whom God has entrusted to one another in this wilderness of pain and doubt.

So friend, when it is your next turn to show up for someone in pain, consider beforehand how you will walk into the room and read the moment to perceive what is needed. Oftentimes, your presence alone speaks the loudest.

I could do better here. You too?

Music is always good

Alan Jackson at his best

Eric and Luciano

Fanny Sung Anew

Straight Outta Brooklyn

Chant of the Mystics

Funnies? Sure, here you go…

Liz was discussing the various aspects and possible outcome of the Insurance policy with the clerk at the Insurance Agency.

During the discussion, she asked, “Suppose I take the life insurance for my husband today and tomorrow he dies? What will I get?”

The clerk eyed her suspiciously, paused, and replied, “Twenty to life.”

****************

Ralph and Mabel had been married for many decades and every summer they attended the county fair.

This year the fair featured a helicopter offering rides for $50 for two people.

Ralph told Mabel he had always wanted to fly in a helicopter, a life-long dream, but Mabel, being as very frugal and responsible as her husband, told her him he was being foolish. They commenced to chipping at each other right there and then.

Well, the pilot overheard the couple bickering and stepped in.

“Listen,” he said, “I’ll give you two a ride for FREE if you can stay quiet for the whole thing.”

“Great!” the couple agreed and strapped in behind the cockpit.

The copter shot off like a rocket and the pilot did all the tricks he could manage to try to get them to scream or make any sound, but they stayed silent. Landing, he said over the headset, “Well, you did great, the trip is free. But tell me, how’d you stay quiet?”

The old man said, “Well, it was mighty rough, especially when Mabel fell out…but fifty bucks is fifty bucks.”

We are back from vacation, and like Nixon said 50+ years ago, I’m tanned, rested and ready. We had a great time with friends on a bike tour and escaped the smoke for a bit.

**********

Ten years ago Claudia and I made the difficult decision to put down our family dog. Old and failing, the vet graciously did the deed and we brought her home and buried her in our unlicensed pet cemetery.

While I thought we had agreed to wait before finding another dog, someone in our house soon found a tiny rescue mutt online from a group in Yakima. We drove north and Ihen we saw her, Annie fit easily into my hand and soon captured our hearts. She learned quickly, adapted eagerly, snuggled contentedly and ate heartily.

I’m pretty sure Annie has never had a bad day.

When the doorbell rings, she barks a welcome and so wants to be the first to greet whomever is at our door and makes sure they are in and safe before going off to her own pursuits. She shamelessly sidles up to just about anyone for a scratch or a belly rub.

Annie is a walking, barking 12 pound welcome wagon, and I can learn from her.

Think for a bit about the idea of “welcome.”

• It carries the sense of openness, acceptance and even joy at your presence on someone’s doorstep.

• Not limited to words, there is a distinct aroma of welcome that some people carry and you, as the one on the doorstep, can sense it right away.

• Welcoming people smile, touch and make eye contact, ask good questions and show interest in the others in the room.

• Jesus people are called to be hospitable, welcoming, open-doored.

There’s an interesting episode in the ministry of Jesus that Dr. Luke relates in ch.11 when 72 of the followers are sent out as advance teams of two to the places Jesus soon intended to visit. Here is his commission to the teams.

The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves.

So, they are to spread out to nearby towns on a short-term mission trip as Annie-dog people with a message looking for Annie-dog people willing to hear.

When you enter a town and are welcomed, eat what is offered to you. Heal the sick who are there and tell them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ But when you enter a town and are not welcomed, go into its streets and say, ‘Even the dust of your town we wipe from our feet as a warning to you. Yet be sure of this: The kingdom of God has come near.’ I tell you, it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town.

My mind goes to some questions about all this welcoming stuff, and a few pinch like cheap shoes.

• What do people see or sense about me when they meet me? Is my welcome sign lit?

• What role does my affect have on my conversations with others? How might my demeanor impact openness?

• How might I grow this area of welcoming others in my life, my home?

• At church gatherings or socials or at work, how can I be a part of making “welcome” an integral part of the thing so no one is left out?

People, well most people, like being around Annie. She is a fine example of dog people at their best. I want to be like Annie.

Perhaps invest a bit of think time as to how you are doing and where you might grow in this area. It isn’t a matter of introvert/extrovert explanations, but one of opening up a skosh to make room for others to join in on what you have going on. We have good news to share, let’s make sure the welcome mat is clean and swept and ready for the next visitor.

As I write this note on the iPad, Annie is asleep on my lap, content to be with her human. It might just be that contentedness is fruit of a welcoming heart.

Music? Sure

Voices of Liberty for the 250th

Birdland makes me smile

A Little Hez Walker

In the Garden

The Church Sisters do Bluegrass

Let’s do bad jokes…

Rosey and Nina were best of friends and tried to do everything together. Rosey announced that she was going to start a diet to lose some pounds she had put on recently.

"Good!" Nina exclaimed. "I'm ready to start a diet too. We can be dieting buddies and help each other out. And when I feel the urge to drive out and get a burger and fries, I'll call you first."

"Great!" Rosey replied. "I'll ride with you to Burger King."

******************

(this one’s too true!?!)

Jim was driving down the street in a sweat because he had an important meeting and couldn't find a parking place.

Looking up to heaven he said, "Lord take pity on me. If you find me a parking place, I will go to church every Sunday for the rest of me life and give up drinking beer!"

Miraculously, a parking place appeared.

Jim looked up again and said, "Never mind, I found one."

This July, I’m taking a break from writing. Mental floss time. Be back soon.

In the meantime…here is a funny to hold you over.

Joan decided to redecorate. She wasn't sure how many rolls of wallpaper she would need for the bedroom but she knew that Buffy next door had recently done the same job, and the two apartments were identical in size.

"Buffy," she said, "How many rolls of wallpaper did you buy for your bedroom?"

"Ten," said Buffy.

So Joan bought the ten rolls of paper and did the job, but had 2 rolls left over.

"Buffy," she said, "I bought ten rolls of wallpaper for the bedroom, but I've got 2 left over!"

"Yeah," said Buffy, "So did I."

Recently talking with a fine older friend, he commented that he experiences a growing sense of anticipation the more he ages. In his 80s, he sees his body declining, his energy waning and his mental acuity fading just a bit. Rather than rage against the setting sun of his vitality, he says he finds himself getting more excited about the prospect of what’s next.

Christian hope ties itself to the promise of Jesus in the now and as to what lies over the horizon. What we see in death as a solid wall is instead a passageway. I heard a friend give a talk along these lines and likened it all to a tunnel: Dark, uncertain, necessary to get from where we are to where we are going, only traveled one time but with the ultimate light at its other end.

While death comes for us all, it also carries a suitcase full of questions.

Once while facing a grieving sister, Martha, at the death of her brother when she felt Jesus could have saved him, he responds to her questioning anguish with what I envision as kind, strong words…maybe even holding her by the shoulders and looking straight into her tear-filled eyes.

Jesus told her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying. Everyone who lives in me and believes in me will never ever die.

Do you believe this, Martha?”

The miracle of Lazarus coming alive puts an exclamation point on his words to Martha, and really to any of us. At the same time, Jesus clearly understands how difficult an uncertain future can be in one’s heart. His last night with his apprentices, Jesus tries to allay their fears with his promise.

“Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me. There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you?

When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am. And you know the way to where I am going.”

“No, we don’t know, Lord,” Thomas said. “We have no idea where you are going, so how can we know the way?”

Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.

I love the way Jesus begins this dialogue. “Don’t let your heart be troubled.” Normal and natural responses to impending death (or just thinking about any huge life change), is to be troubled, bothered, panicked, anxious.

And Jesus calls for us to be the masters of our mind and don’t let your thoughts go toward mental hand-wringing. Don’t allow it entrance. Shut the gate to your doom-scrolling bad thoughts of worst-case outcomes.

Why? God’s got this…just like everything else we face.

No one knows exactly what after death life will be like, but we have hints scattered throughout the Book. It looks like abundance and peace and worthy work and worship and justice and seeing God face to face with every tear wiped away. Far from a period at the end of our sentence, consider it an ellipses …

And so we live until our days are finished. Our task is to live as alive as we can, not wishing away or wasting a bit of the days we have. In the back of our minds we, intellectually at least, understand that our death is sure to come, but we live with a slippery grasp on that truth.

Alfred Lord Tennyson, as he grew old and neared death, wrote as only a poet of his stature could on his journey. In a poem called Crossing the Bar, Tennyson likens moving toward his end to sailing down a river and out into the ocean beyond but needing first to cross the bar at the mouth of the river. Read this classic a couple of times.

Sunset and evening star, And one clear call for me!

And may there be no moaning of the bar, When I put out to sea,

But such a tide as moving seems asleep, Too full for sound and foam,

When that which drew from out the boundless deep, Turns again home.

Twilight and evening bell, And after that the dark!

And may there be no sadness of farewell, When I embark;

For tho’ from out our bourne of Time and Place, The flood may bear me far,

I hope to see my Pilot face to face, When I have crost the bar.

Crossing the bar. Traveling a necessary tunnel. Stepping through the veil. We sketch pictures we understand to try to grasp what is not understandable, yet inevitable. And living well with anticipation of what is to come make for a more full life.

Here’s the Spooky Men’s Chorale singing the words. Sweet and calming in times when “goodbye” is hard.

The monks who used Memento Mori as their motto were on to something. “Remember you must die” sets fire to the “I’ll get to it later” philosophy people of any age adopt. Now is the time. Don’t wait for tomorrow. Today is the day to flourish.

So, someday people will gather like the first image in this space and remember you after you have traveled through your tunnel. Yours. What they say will reflect how you lived, what you loved and all in which you invested.

As believers in Jesus, we can join my friend and have both a growing anticipation of what is next, without a troubled heart, while at the same time fully engaged in life here and now.

“Remember, you will die” reminds.

“Remember, you live!” is our challenge.

And, as he ages and slows a step, my friend is still at full sail, intent on finishing well. Let’s do the same, eh?

…and thanks, Tom, for providing the title of this piece. Keep running hard toward home!

Music for the week…

Fly Like an Eagle

Circle of Life

Requiem (Mozart) near his death

Johnny Cash ready for his tunnel

Big Organ time!

Funnies for the win

A man having lunch at a Chinese restaurant noticed that the table had been set with forks, not chopsticks. He asked why. The waiter said "Chopsticks are provided only on request."

"But," the man countered, "if you gave your patrons chopsticks, you wouldn't have to pay someone to wash all the forks."

"True," the waiter shot back, "but we would have to hire three more people to clean up the mess."

****************

By the time Ted arrived at the football game, the first quarter was almost over.

"Why are you so late?" his friend asked.

"I had to toss a coin to decide between going to church and coming to the game."

"How long could that have taken you?" he asked.

"Well, I had to toss it 14 times."

In case you slept through the weekend just finished, last Sunday was Father’s Day.

On behalf of all the dads out there, thanks for the thoughts and tributes, even though most all will agree that our families are the best gift we could ever receive. Still, it’s nice to be noticed.

This is a manufactured holiday, begun in 1910 by a woman in Spokane, Sonora Smart Dodd, who wanted a counter-point to Mother’s Day. She was raised by a Civil War veteran and widower who, alone, shepherded along Sonora and her five brothers and sisters. A nice remembrance.

Today, Father’s Day is a cultural tradition and marketing bonanza. The other day at Fred Meyer I had to weave my way through a maze of BBQs and flattops just to get to the Doritos.

For some who had great dads, the day is one to stop and think and be thankful for what you were taught as you grew up being mentored, guided, challenged, taught, and disciplined by a less-than-perfect, but good, man. For many others, however, the day can ring somewhat hollow. Their experience with a father was anything but something to celebrate.

This can add confusion to one’s faith-life if an earthly father was not so good and then we are called on to listen to, admire, adore, follow and worship a heavenly father. That person has nothing to build on from life to understand God. One writer has said that he has spent years trying to wipe the face of his father from the face of God.

One of the Psalms can help fill in some of the blanks. Ps. 103 is a song of praise, and the middle part of it describes a bit of the nature and actions of God toward his children (that’s you!). Read it over.

The Lord is compassionate and merciful,
slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love.
He will not constantly accuse us,
nor remain angry forever.
He does not punish us for all our sins;
he does not deal harshly with us, as we deserve.
For his unfailing love toward those who fear him
is as great as the height of the heavens above the earth.
He has removed our sins as far from us
as the east is from the west.
The Lord is like a father to his children,
tender and compassionate to those who fear him.
For he knows how weak we are;
he remembers we are only dust.

Stop for a moment and look around the room. Breathe deeply. Now, read it again a bit slower this time, personalizing the plurals to yourself. Let the truths soak into your heart.

The final couplet captures who we are: Weak at critical times and as shifting as dust.

And to us, he is a Father. Tender and compassionate. Pursuing with unfailing love while removing sins. Merciful and wise, teaching through failures rather than punishing. Here is a snapshot of your Father:

• He is good in all he does

• Faithful to father you along your way

• Aware and listening to your heart

• Speaking words of encouragement, mercy and counsel

• Disciplining for your growth and good

• Close when you are down

Now, that’s a father worth celebrating, every day.

My hope is that you still have the chance to thank your dad for building his life into yours, and if he is gone, invest some time remembering and evaluating how you are doing with what he left you. Even less-than-stellar fathers leave legacies in us to learn from. After all, we are just tall children.

Most of us can also think back and identify those who have been spiritual fathers to us. These ones poured into your life and played a role in your maturity and impact today. Remember them. If they are still around, let them know how they impacted your life for good since encouragement is everyone’s fuel for the next lap. If they are gone, speak their name to others.

And all of us would be wise to stop today and express thanks to our heavenly Father for his ongoing work in and around us. He is a good, good Father.

Abba, Father, with all I have and hold dear, thank you.

Some Father’s Day Songs…

Because I’m Your Dad

Daddy’s Little Girl

Run to the Father

Good Good Father

How Deep the Father’s Love for Us

Funnies, sure, you got ‘em right here…

Dad fancied himself as a gift to every setting and anyone.

After dinner one evening, my dad starting entertaining our dinner guest by playing the piano.

At one point he turned to the visitor and said, "I understand you love music?"

"Yes," murmured the guest politely. "But never you mind, you keep right on playing..."

*****************

A cowboy from Texas walked into a bank in New York City and asked for the loan officer. He told the loan officer that he was going home to Texas for two weeks and needed to borrow $5,000 and that he was not a depositor of the bank.

The bank officer told him that the bank would need some form of security for the loan, so the cowboy handed over the keys to a brand new Ford F-250 King Ranch. The truck was parked on the street in front of the bank. The old cowboy produced the title and everything checked out.

The loan officer agreed to hold the car as collateral for the loan and apologized for having to charge 12% interest.

Later, the bank’s president and its officers all enjoyed a good laugh at the cowboy from the south for using a $85,000 pickup truck as collateral for a
$5,000 loan. An employee of the bank then drove the truck into the bank’s private underground garage and safely parked it.

Two weeks later, the old cowboy returned, repaid the $5,000 and the interest of $23.07, and took the keys to his truck.

The loan officer said, “Sir, we are very happy to have had your business, and this transaction has worked out very nicely, but we are a little puzzled. While you were away, we checked you out on Dunn & Bradstreet and found that you are a Distinguished Alumnus From Texas A&M, a highly-sophisticated investor and a multi-millionaire with real estate and financial interests all over the world.

What puzzles us is why would you bother to borrow $5,000?”

The good ‘ole Texan replied, “Where else in New York City can I park my truck for two weeks for only $23.07 and expect it to be there when I return?”

After OSU, I worked as a college intern at NWHills Church in Corvallis for three years. Commuting to Portland for seminary part time, holding down a job in a steak house and doing ministry at the church made for a full life. But being young and full of fuel we ran with our hair on fire and thought nothing of it.

Three years later, Claudia and I were engaged and were set to take a red-eye flight to MN for me to meet her parents for the first time. That day I also had been let go from my role at the church. Soon to be unemployed, not finished with grad school, unsure of our future, feeling like a loser and not sure where to turn…my mind flopped like a fish on the beach.

After the meeting where I was cut loose and staggering back to the little yellow house in the church parking lot where I lived, a song came to my tilting mind.

Because he lives I can face tomorrow.

I have never been much of a Gaither fan and this song seemed like so much pablum, but there in my hurt and confusion, their lyrics came to mind and I found myself croaking out the simplest of messages.

Think about how many times the most simple truths brought you back around to a better place. When doubt or fear or setback or tragedy darkened your path, a lower-case plain understanding of God and his world can shine enough light for the next steps.

Karl Barth, a 20th century Swiss theologian and a card-carrying member of the big brain club, while on a 1962 lecture tour in the USA, was asked if he could sum up all of his work in a sentence. Without hesitation the scholar responded that he could and that he learned it at his mother’s knee:

Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so.

How often we complicate what really is quite simple. A good portion of the gospel weaves these lyrics from two simple songs together into a commanding ovation. Stop for a moment and allow these truths to wrap you in love.

First, consider the amazing assertion that Jesus loves me. Here is the perfect Son of God and then here is you and me. The truth we carry is that Jesus is part of the Triune God, along with the Father and Spirit. The Son created all we see and beyond, from the edges of the universe to the whatever is smaller than the parts of atoms. He created you with all your quirks and his assessment is that his work is very good.

Now, take all that he is and try to wrap your brain around the idea he not only is aware of you in the midst of all the rest, but that he chooses to love you, and all the testimony of scripture bears this out. You.

• You, with all of your failings and holes.

• You, regardless of how many times your back has been turned away.

• You he loves with a faithful, unchanging, overflowing, loyal, new-every-morning kind of love.

But Jesus (and Father and Spirit) didn’t just sit outside of humanity hoping it will get better, he became one of us and lived the life we could not live and died the death we could not die. Then, by the power of God himself, was raised to life, defeating sin, death and the grave. And through life in him, we live, as well. That is the love of Jesus. That is the love of Jesus for you, and we know it.

Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so.

Second, weave that thought together with the line from the Gaither song, Because he lives, I can face tomorrow. Your life can take on at any moment, or season, the flavor of whatever life serves up. Some of what we encounter is from our own hands while much of life is beyond our control. As a Jesus-follower, we can stride into each day with calm confidence, because he lives and loves you.

Resist the undertow of the demand for answers to every part of faith in life. While it’s important to keep on learning and investigating God stuff, when you bonk a grad test and lose your job and have to meet the parents and don’t know what’s next, loop back to the basics…

Jesus loves me this I know, and because he lives I can face tomorrow.

Listen to Jesus describe this in Matthew 11.

Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”

This puts the cookies on the bottom shelf where anyone can reach them.

That afternoon for me, as I slowly walked across the gravel parking lot to the little yellow house, taught me a bit more how to trust a God I could not see for a way forward I did not plan. Like you have experienced following Jesus, it worked out for us: Her folks liked me, we moved to finish school, got jobs and launched a life together. One blind step at a time.

Whatever you face today, let the simple truths arranged like cookies on the bottom shelf encourage your heart. Grab onto one and go forward.

musicMusicMUSIC

Redneck Thunder

A little Lainey

Gaither Band Because He Lives…

Joey+Rory Jesus Loves Me

4+ hours of instrumental background

Funnies for Life

The morning of the big parade, a man and a little boy entered a barber shop together.

"Give me the full treatment," the man said. "I want to look good in the parade!"

After the man received a shave, manicure, and haircut, he placed the boy in the chair. "I'm going to buy a new tie to wear for the parade," he said. "I'll be back in a few minutes."

When the boy's haircut was done and the man still hadn't returned, the barber said, "It looks like your daddy forgot all about you."

"That wasn't my daddy," said the boy. "He just walked up, took me by the hand and said, 'Come on, son, we're gonna get a free haircut!'"

***********************

The teacher noticed that Ralph had been daydreaming for a long time. She decided to get his attention.

"Ralph," she said, "If the world is 25,000 miles around and eggs are sixty cents a dozen, how old am I?

"Thirty-four," the boy answered unhesitatingly.

The teacher replied "Well, that's exactly my actual age. Tell me...how did you guess?"

"Oh, there's nothing to it," Ralph said. "My big sister is seventeen and she's only half-crazy."

Last week I sold a bike on Marketplace.

After a few days with little interest, I lowered the price a bit and started to get action. A guy I’ll call Jeff was the only one who messaged me and asked to come see it, so we set a time that afternoon.

He drove up in an adventure van and looked like so many other 50-ish guys in our town, fit…but he was unassuming. I had the bike shined up and on a stand just outside the garage. We visited and he rode the bike around the block a couple of times and he said he’d take it. No haggling on the price, just decided.

As we talked, he looked up at some hats I have hanging in the garage, one of which is an Army Ranger Battalion hat. He asked if I was a Ranger and I told him the hat came from a former student who gave it to me when home from one of his many deployments. So, I asked him if he was…and he then unspooled a few feet of line from his story.

Career Army. Tabbed Ranger. Special Forces. Delta Force. Published author. Now retired with his high-school sweetheart wife and sons to Bend.

So, after he left with the bike in the van, I looked the dude up on the old interweb and discovered he’s the real deal. Lt. Col. Five bronze stars and one silver star with valor. Numerous deployments around the globe. War College. Author. Loves Jesus.

Standing in my little garage talking bikes. Hiding in plain sight.

While I might run into Jeff around town, we probably won’t become friends, but it got me to wondering how often I assume a person’s story and miss an Easter egg hidden in the grass…especially in a Jesus-follower. Now, Jeff’s awards and medals were hard-won and deserve the honor of his service, but for believers it is quite different.

Our salvation has nothing, nothing to do with what we have done, or how we use our gifts, or what good we accomplish. Salvation is completely due to the life and death Jesus Christ. That’s the essence of the gospel, the core of grace to you.

Tim Keller puts this so much better than I could write. Take a listen for just under three minutes…I’ll wait.

The guy who bought my bike is a war hero, the real McCoy, and I salute him. But you, my brother or sister in Christ, are covered in more medals and honor than he could ever earn. Keller’s tribute video highlights the core of this message.

The moment you put your faith and trust in Jesus, the Father looks at you, he sees his image in you covered in all that Jesus earned. It’s almost like double honor: You bear his likeness, and Christ’s merit is laid on you. That’s Christ in you, the hope of glory. His love for you is undiminished by anything you do and cannot be lessened by any act of rebellion because, in Jesus, we stand in his presence blameless and with great joy (Jude 24).

And there you are, hiding in plain sight.

Thinking about it, this truth seems to cut three ways.

First, purpose to live out who you are. Daily choices to follow well, to speak hope, to condemn injustice, to give joyfully, to serve and not look to be served. In short, grow into your position.

Second, purpose to look on other Christ-followers as God sees them. This will change how you might interact with them, especially when they bug the snot out of you.

And third, remind other believers of all that is theirs in Jesus. When they pray the Our Father point out the stunning truth that the God of all calls us his child and that we do this in community (our). Together we do our part to have his kingdom come and will be done right here, right now.

Since leaving the service, Jeff hasn’t rested on his accomplishments but now has applied his skills to combat predatory sex traffic rings and the people behind them. He formed a non-profit and goes hard to protect the vulnerable and expose evil. The lesson from that for us is to keep pressing on, using all we have learned into the next arena God opens before us.

Just like Jeff, we don’t need to strut and posture. There is no call for arrogance and dominance. For him and for us, we stand under the Jesus banner, clothed in honor.

Now that’s good news.

Music for the moment

(Throwback to crazy times) Quarantine Big Helsinki Band

Brothers of the Heart

MercyMe Oh Death

It is Well

Do Lord

Funnies for the win

Linda and Marion were comparing notes on the difficulties of running a small business.

"I started a new business last year," Linda said. "I insist that each of my employees take at least a week off every three months."

"Why in the world would you do that?" Marion asked.

"It's the best way I know of to learn which ones I can do without," Linda said.

****************

A woman had some problems, so she went to her doctor of twenty years. They had the following conversation:

Dr.: "Take the red pill after breakfast with one glass of water."

Woman: "Ok."

Dr: "Take the blue pill after lunch with two glasses of water."

Woman: "Ok."

Dr.: "Take the yellow pill after dinner with three glasses of water."

After giving these instructions to the woman, she asks, "Can you tell me what's wrong with me, doctor?"

Dr.: "Yeah. You don't drink enough water."

The last two weeks we looked at two questions God asked among the hundreds posed in the bible. And in each we discovered the point was for revelation rather than God needing information.

Adam and Eve got exposed to their leaving home and choosing independence when God asked Where are you? to the couple as they hid in shame from the One who created them. From then through today, God asks the same question to every person when we stray from home. He is the Seeker, the Hound of Heaven pursuing his beloved. That question reveals distance and invites return.

Then there was Jesus’ interaction with the lame man who had hoped for change and healing for 38 years as he sat by a pool of water in hopes for a miracle. His illness had become his identity and it proved to be false, but it was who he saw himself as. Tangled like a wind-blown mobile, he was caught until Jesus asked him Do you want to get well?

This odd question cut across his excuses and opened a way for him to experience a new identity, in the Healer as he acted on the call to get up. The same question comes to every one of us when we are stuck in crippled mental loops hoping things will change on their own. Answering this is the first step out and away from whatever pool where we wait.

This week takes us to a vignette with Jesus and his crew midway in his ministry years. They had traveled back north to Caesarea Philippi and had much activity amid crowds of people. Both Matthew and Luke relate this brief back and forth. Here’s how Luke tells it.

One day Jesus left the crowds to pray alone. Only his disciples were with him, and he asked them, “Who do people say I am?”

“Well,” they replied, “some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah, and others say you are one of the other ancient prophets risen from the dead.”

Then he asked them, “But who do you say I am?”

Peter replied, “You are the Messiah sent from God!”

Bear with me, but if I squint and tilt my head just so, this is how I imagine the scene. It’s the end of a full day and Jesus sneaks off alone to pray and recharge. Returning to the close crew of men and women followers, he joins them around the fire and listens in as they discuss what they saw and who they met and the things they learned watching Jesus do his thing.

They are relaxed and laughter is ever-present as the Sons of Thunder tease each other about something they did that day. Food has been shared and folks are relaxed. Jesus, leaning back on one of the packs, asks, “Who do people say I am?”

And just like today, opinions about just who this amazing man is are all over the yard.

Then Jesus turns the question toward his friends and Peter, as usual, is first to speak up with a declaration that leads to a path. You see, the simple phrase Who do you say I am? reveals for any of us just how much sway this Jesus actually carries in life.

The passage continues with Jesus letting the crew in on what is to come and the price they will pay if they continue to relentlessly follow this man.

Jesus warned his disciples not to tell anyone who he was. ^“The Son of Man must suffer many terrible things,” he said. “He will be rejected by the elders, the leading priests, and the teachers of religious law. He will be killed, but on the third day he will be raised from the dead.”

Then he said to the crowd, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross daily, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it.

Pretty staggering outflow from just a simple question. To take up your cross daily and follow me talks about the hundreds of choices we make every day.

• Choosing kindness rather than coldness,

• peace and not retaliation,

• viewing others as image-bearers and treating them accordingly

• serving without strings,

• opting for running people up and not down.

For many in any era, Jesus functions as their mascot or lucky charm. He goes as far into the weeds of life as a cross necklace or labeled T-shirt will carry. But answering like Peter, and don’t forget how badly he will soon fail, is an intentional compass heading. Inevitable stumbles, even intentional ones, will not alter the overall course.

So, Who do you say I am? becomes a whisper as we approach each branch in our road all day long. Choosing to follow becomes a matter of surrender, practiced over and over again. Winning the battle of the choice-of-the-moment calls for us to keep front and center both who we are and whose we are.

Paul, in his letters to regular Janes and Joes, routinely calls for believers to choose wisely when the way branches and so live godly lives. Having been bought with a price, the sacrifice of Jesus, our response (which is all for our benefit) is to invite Jesus into every conversation, video, online search, purchase, and all the rest.

Trust me, you will fail, just like all of us do. But remember, you are an apprentice, a learner, a child and can trust our Master, our Teacher, our Father to never give up on his project in you.

Today, then dear friend, take some time to ponder Jesus’ question.

Who do you say I am?

It calls for belief, commitment, and wise choices all along your way. Then test drive for the rest of today as you come upon all of the choices in you path.

Meusik for the moment

Journey with a double-take…

A little Del McCoury and friends

Claudia and I sure track with this song…

The Way

Oldie Southern Hymns

…and phunnies…shur nuf

Taking great pains to be specific, Ken, the grizzled old veteran teacher explained to three of his students that he wanted them to clean a car that was parked outside.

He gave them two extension cords, the vacuum cleaner, a bucket, rags and the car keys. He mentioned that the car was one to be used in his class.

Later he went out and discovered them sitting in the car, feet up on the
dashboard, listening to the stereo. "Why aren't you vacuuming the car?" he
asked.

"Because the extension cord wouldn't reach," was the reply.

Exasperated, the teacher stated, "That's why I gave you two."

"We tried the other one," a student said, "but it wouldn't reach either."

******************

While waiting for my first appointment in the reception room of a new dentist, I noticed his certificate, which bore his full name.

Suddenly, I remembered that a tall, handsome boy with the same name had been in my high school class almost 50 years ago.

Upon seeing him, however, I quickly discarded any such thought. This balding, gray-haired man with the deeply lined face was too old to have been my classmate.

After he had examined my teeth, I asked him if he had attended the local high school.

"Yes," he replied.

"When did you graduate?" I asked.

He answered, "In 1953."

"Why, you were in my class!" I exclaimed.

He looked at me closely and then asked, "What did you teach?"

Last week I wondered about God asking questions and mused that since he is omniscient, his asking has nothing to do with information and everything to do with revelation.

Every question God asks prompts listeners to understand a bit more of who he is, and who we are, and who we are in light of him. Questions move folks toward revelations of new territory.

Some times they are personal: “What have you done?” to Cain with blood on his hands.

Other times philosophical: “What will it profit a person if they gain the whole world, but forfeit their soul?”

Still, when God asks any question, it’s worth paying attention and posing the question to oneself. Last week, the question was the one to Adam and Eve after they went their own way and left home, convinced they didn’t need and couldn’t trust God. God asked, “Where are you?” and the same is posed to us when we stray.

This week we turn to the gospels in John 5.

This is a well-known story of Jesus and a guy at a pool. Take a listen.

Afterward Jesus returned to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish holy days. Inside the city, near the Sheep Gate, was the pool of Bethesda, with five covered porches.

Crowds of sick people—blind, lame, or paralyzed—lay on the porches. One of the men lying there had been sick for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him and knew he had been ill for a long time, he asked him,

“Do you want to get well?”

“I can’t, sir,” the sick man said, “for I have no one to put me into the pool when the water bubbles up. Someone else always gets there ahead of me.”

Jesus told him, “Stand up, pick up your mat, and walk!”

The legend with this pool was that occasionally an angel would stir up the water and the first one down into it would be healed. So, this place attracted any number of desperate people looking for a miracle.

The guy in the story had been dealing with his infirmity for 38 years and his identity was wrapped around the axel of his illness. Solidly in his victim identity, he never answered the question from Jesus and Jesus doesn’t press the issue. Instead, he bypasses the magic water and any demand of faith and just heals with a word acted upon.

Think about how long the man had waited, watching his dreams die, friends leave and world shrink to the size of a small-ish pool inside the city gate. His only company were the other unfortunates waiting for their miracle. 38 years. Consider how much you have lived since 1988. It wasn’t only his body that was crippled, but his soul.

Do you want to get well? reveals who this guy thinks he is and what he is relying on for life. The question cuts clean across his excuses and exposes what would never work.

Back in college in a Psy 101 class, the prof brought in a mobile that was all tangled up, hanging in a clustered mess. He explained to the group this was like people made dysfunctional by their circumstances and, over time, conclude it just is the way life is because untying the mobile looks impossible. Also, the disruption to the whole thing if one part is untied causes more chaos than living with the damage.

We are surrounded by people with tangled mobiles and who feel stuck in their situation, maybe even you. Their burden becomes their identity. Bad health. Toxic relationships. Unfair boss. Dead end life. And the chaos seems overwhelming, so we/they sit by the pool waiting for the miraculous.

But then Jesus comes along and asks, “Do you want to get well?”

I’m no therapist, but answering this question sure seems like a necessary first step toward leaving one’s false identity and moving toward our true identity in Jesus. He masters in untangling our twists in the mobile and instills with the courage needed to confront the work it takes to getting well.

So, the question resonates whenever we find ourselves stuck poolside filled with hopefully magic waters. It is the starting point for change. Do you want to get well?

Pray for strength to face your deficits and ask for eyes to see who you are in Christ, to grasp the hope you have in him, and understanding as to what it looks like to follow him in your situation. And find an advocate to help you pick up your mat and walk toward newness.

It won’t be easy and the path will certainly have its blind corners, but it may just turn out to be the beginning of a whole new life. Our true identity is in Jesus.

Music for the week

PMJ in the Hotel

WDR Big Band Take 5

Chris at Rock Bottom

GVB at the Pool

Death Lost its Grip

Jokes? Sure, anytime…but no guarantee of quality

A man visiting a doctor says, "Doctor, I just dropped in to tell you how much I benefited from your treatment."

The doctor replied, "But you are not one of my patients."

The man said, "I know. But my uncle Bill was, and I am his heir."

*******************

I've had laryngitis, tonsillitis, hepatitis, meningitis, appendicitis, tendinitis, and colitis. I've also suffered from gastritis, bronchitis, gingivitis, bursitis, and arthritis.

I've been held up, held down, hung up, strung up, stood-up, bulldozed, bloody-nosed, blackjacked, hijacked, squeezed, frisked, and mooched. Stuck with excess profits tax, personal property tax, utility tax, inheritance tax, sales tax, school tax, gasoline tax, income tax, excise tax, surtax, liberty bonds, savings bonds, a couple of bail bonds, and the bonds of matrimony.

I've helped the Red Cross, the White Cross, and often been double-crossed. Helped the Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, and a few Talent Scouts. Helped children's hospitals, mental hospitals, VA hospitals, spoke out for civil rights, women's rights, animal rights, men's relief, and stomach relief.

I have worked for a dog, and worked like a dog, and still lost all I had. I've been set aside, pushed aside, hit broadside, and had to sit outside. Demoted and misquoted. Walked on, jumped on, dumped on, rained on, snowed on, stomped on, spit on, cut on, and ratted on.

I've been put off, ran off, and ripped off. Intimidated, interrogated, berated, separated, and violated. I've been cussed, and discussed, boycotted, stunned, shunned, and shocked. Criticized, despised, ostracized, victimized, brutalized, capsized, analyzed, and ill-advised.

Slapped, trapped, and wire-tapped. I've been used, abused, bruised, refused, confused, but never excused. Talked about, lied about, lied to, bawled out, chewed out, kicked out, knocked out, but never bailed out.

I've been assailed, derailed, and blackmailed. Scammed, slammed, burned, stung, stoned, robbed, cheated, booed, sued, misconstrued, and almost drowned.
And the only reason I'm sticking around is...???

I just want to see what's gonna happen next!

Ours is a God who asks questions.

And when you pause long enough to think about that, it seems strange that he does. After all, he’s God. To get even a human-sized understanding of who he is we take concepts we know and slap “omni” in front of the term.

He can do all things, so we refer to his power as “omnipotent.” We believe he is everywhere all the time, so the term is “omnipresent.” And in terms of his knowledge, “omniscient.”

So, if he knows it all already, why ask questions? If it isn’t about information, then it must be about revelation. The questions are designed to open up more understanding as to who we are and what we have done, who God is and how we relate to him. Uncovering. Revealing. Exposing.

Examples? Below are four:

• After Cain kills his brother, God asks, “Where is your brother Abel?”

• To Elijah, being chased by Jezebel and hiding in a cave, the question is “What are you doing here?”

• Jesus, in the midst of a crushing crowd, when touched by a desperate woman he says, “Who touched me?”

• Or in a boat after a deadly storm that he calmed, Jesus turns to the guys and asks, “Why are you so afraid?”

Hundreds of questions in the Older Testament and over 300 from Jesus in the gospels, all with the purpose of revelation, not information. So, it’s good for us to pay attention to see how some of those questions might travel to us and nudge us along a bit further on our journey of faith.

Here’s one, and it’s a good one for you and me.

After creation is finished and Adam and Eve are living in God’s garden and in harmony with him, they are tested and ultimately fail the test. How long the two lived in harmony with God is unclear.

While the text is silent, it’s interesting to ponder that there might have been years, decades or even centuries of time living well with God. That is until the enemy, disguised as a snake, plants seeds of doubt in the couple as to the goodness of God and convinced them they would be better off going it on their own.

They disobey, experience shame and guilt and hide from God in the very place they had experienced closeness and harmony with him. Genesis 3 tells the story and it’s worth a re-read in a version not so familiar to you. Here’s just a bit of the text.

When the cool evening breezes were blowing, the man and his wife heard the Lord God walking about in the garden. So they hid from the Lord God among the trees.

Then the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”

He replied, “I heard you walking in the garden, so I hid. I was afraid because I was naked.”

Where are you?

Not a question of location but of relationship.

The first couple had left home, choosing to go it alone away from their design. God now introduces himself as the Seeker of those lost and away from home. Where are you conveys his seeing them while hide and asking for them to see where they had gone and to come back.

From that encounter through today, the same question is asked of every soul who has left God’s home in search of self-fulfillment, self-saving only to end up covered by a fig leaf ensemble and hiding from the One who made them. And the Spirit whispers that question every time we choose to believe the lie that God doesn’t care about us or our needs, no matter how long we have believed.

• The unwarranted angry outburst

• The lie so easily delivered

• The two-click journey to pornland

• The unkind gossip and unforgiven slight

Paul Simon sings “50 ways to leave your lover.” I have that beat by a mile. Lists of ways we leave home and close fellowship with FatherSonSpirit is never ending. For the couple it was a feeling their desires were blocked by God, but the countless “whys” behind the “what” of turning our back on God are just the vehicle our enemy uses to woo us from home with false promises of self-fulfillment.

John, in his first letter, acknowledges how we are prone to wander, then charts a simple way home.

If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth. But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.

It’s good to remember that confession is as simple as agreeing, again, with God as to what we have done. Repentance is turning away from what alienated us and moving toward home. The Spirit is the active agent prompting your heart to make some changes.

Then, rather than being all hang-dog over failure, we go again, as children with scraped knees coming back to a loving parent. Paul nails this idea in Romans 8.

So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus.

This morning, look around. Might it be you squatting behind a bush, covering your shame with a fig-leaf excuse and hoping God just passes you by? We’ve all been there, and will be again since we are people in process, not a finished product.

Come home.

Agree with God and return, again, to your garden of God. You will be welcomed with open arms, scars and all.

Music for the day ahead

Start with a bit of Maria Callas

A little news from 8 Miles High

What if…Psalm 23

Justin Baldwin, new to me

West Pointers Playing and Singing

…and a couple of lame jokes

A couple went to the county courthouse to get a marriage license. They accidentally walked into the office that handled hunting licenses.

"We're from out of state," said the prospective groom. "Can we get a license?"

The clerk replied, "No, but I can give you a three-day permit."

********************

An eccentric philosophy professor gave a one question final exam after a semester dealing with a broad array of topics. The class was already seated and ready to go when the professor picked up his chair, plopped it on his desk and wrote on the board:

"Using everything we have learned this semester, prove that this chair does not exist."

Fingers flew, erasers erased, notebooks were filled in furious fashion. Some students wrote over 30 pages in one hour attempting to refute the existence of the chair. One member of the class however, was up and finished in less than a minute.

Weeks later when the grades were posted, the rest of the group wondered how he could have gotten an A when he had barely written anything at all.
His answer consisted of two words:

"What chair?"

OK, let’s take a stroll through a small sample of life these days as we know it…

Crazy local and larger politics. Days fly and nights drag. Iran. Traffic. National debt. Personal disappointments. Social dysfunction. Ukraine. Congressional division. Gas prices. Shootings. Immigration. Kids these days. Homelessness. Slaughter of innocents in multiple countries. Algorithms. Weight gain. Hair loss. Sports gambling scandals. Generational strife. Wildfire smoke. Aging bodies. Social Security. Lions and tigers and bears, OH MY!

If a person didn’t know any better, they could get depressed just listening to the news, and if not depressed, certainly anxious.

As Jesus followers, it seems most folks lean either toward frantically fighting every battle as though society and safety hinged on its outcome, or removing themselves from the cultural undertow in hopes of escaping corruption.

Each side holds people just trying to find a way in crazy times. One commentator I like said recently that a large majority of Americans (and I can assume American Christians), are personally quite moderate. If you imagine a football field, most are between the ‘20s, but strongly influenced by the radical fringes on either end.

Before you jump down my throat, I recognize these are generalizations, but the drift seems to go one way or the other. So, I wonder if there is a third way.

• A way to both engage in the cultural dialogue while remaining Jesus-like in our daily life.

• Engaged while distinct.

• A third way where fewer enemies are seen and fellow-strugglers are noticed.

• A way that sees and hears people, even those we strongly disagree with.

• A way that builds unlocked gates in fences, and lined with offers of help.

I heard a guy online just this week say we are beyond the possibility of living a third way life; that the stakes are too high and the separation too great to play both ends toward the middle. Count me as an outlier, then, in my disagreement with him.

The drumbeat of news and news feeds, screaming preachers or the latest hot podcaster are just noise-makers clanging for attention: more eyeballs, more clicks, more revenue. And in the shadows, powerful algorithms pour more and more down our throats.

The other day I ran across a poem/prayer that served as a good reminder for anyone, anytime. It’s by Douglas Kaine McKelvey.

Give us discernment in the face of troubling news reports.

Give us discernment to know when to pray, when to speak out, when to act, and when to simply shut off our screens and our devices, and to sit quietly in your presence,

Casting the burdens of this world upon the strong shoulders of the one who alone is able to bear them up.

Amen

That sounds great, but my inclination is to keep scrolling and stuffing more and more into my backpack and then wonder why life seems so heavy. I’m not built for that and neither are you.

So, let’s together take a few moments today to stop and breathe, deeply.

Shut down your devices and ask God to settle your skittish mind and to corral your thoughts. Imagine him sitting in the chair across the room, with legs crossed and hands folded in his lap. Spend a bit of time looking at him looking at you looking at him.

Breathe, deeply.

Maybe ask the God who speaks to whisper to your spirit reminders of the central things within your reach on which to focus your energy.

Ask him to show you, again, your mission. Yours, given by him without competing or comparing to others who have their own tasks to tackle. Trust me, it’s there.

Invest a bit of your day simply being with FatherSonSpirit without lists to mention but with ears to hear. Never forget to remember that this God so loved the world, you included, that he gave all so you might have life.

Julian of Norwich, a 14th century woman who, after seeing visions of Jesus, lived and wrote from a small room built into the wall of St. Julian’s church in the busy English town of Norwich, from which she took her name. A while back, a friend shared her most repeated line to me, and serves me well to stay sane in troubled times.

All will be well and all will be well and all manner of things will be well.

In the days we face it’s good to know we follow and serve a God who is not surprised or anxious or who scrambles for solutions. Instead, he works in the cracks of life that open in the worst of times. All will be well.

Stop your worrying. Take a breath.

Music time!

Maybe the best country song

Dr. John is magic

Celtic Hymn Gospel

South African Gospel

Hillbilly Gospel

Funnies for the win!

The aspiring psychiatry students were attending their first class on
emotional extremes.

"Just to establish some parameters," said the professor to a student from
New York, "What is the opposite of joy?"

"Sadness," said a student.

And the opposite of depression?" he asked of the young lady from Oklahoma.

"Elation," she said.

"And you sir," he said to the young man from Texas, "how about the opposite
of woe?"

The Texan replied, "Sir, I believe that would be giddy-up."

********************

A man was overweight, so his doctor put him on a diet.

"I want you to eat regularly for two days, then skip a day, repeat this process for two weeks and the next time I see you, you'll have lost at least five pounds," the doctor said.

When the man returned, he shocked the doctor by having lost nearly 20 pounds.

"That's amazing!" the doctor said, "did you follow my instructions?"

The man nodded. "I'll tell you though, I thought I was going to pass out that third day."

"From hunger, you mean?"

“No,” the man panted, “from skipping.”

It dawned on me recently that I’ve been at this weekly email thing for over six years. It started in early COVID days to keep contact with a few folks from church and morphed into whatever this is. Claudia graciously prints them out and we have them in a binder for no apparent reason, so the other day I pulled it off the shelf and scanned some of the entries.

If I didn’t know me, I’d think I’m all that and a bag of chips, that I have much of this faith-life wired and that growing in grace, walking in love and serving relentlessly comes quite easily. Reading these again made me blush a bit since so often I am a fraud.

Not a fraud in that I don’t believe what I write, it’s more like I flop more often than I fly, then beat myself up for stumbling over the same rocks in my path I hit last go-round. What encourages me is to read biographies of Jesus-followers down through the ages who knew the same frustrations.

You can’t throw a frisbee without hitting a saint who would give a hearty “Me Too!” to Paul’s lament in Romans 7.

The trouble is with me, for I am all too human, still a slave to sin. I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate.

St. John of the Cross and his dark night of the soul. Mother Teresa doing her thing but not sensing God in her work. J. Sidlow Baxter remarking his prayers felt like tossing BBs into a brass heaven. Any number of believers in the pews near you living checkered lives of obedience. You. Me.

What we need is a long gospel.

• We need good news of new chances and do-overs.

• We could use eyes to see the options before us clearly so we can choose to follow Jesus, again and again.

• We hope for a heart that warms to what promotes kingdom goodness in us and others.

• We are wise to pull out our compass, again, to check if we are heading toward our True North.

A long gospel. That’s just what we have, and sometimes forget to remember.

Jesus’ good news of new life, here and forever, runs with the assumption that we all are works in progress. The long gospel reaches out and rescues over and over, because the gospel is relational not transactional.

A transactional gospel tells a person to believe, say a prayer and you gain heaven and a better life now. Unfortunately, that has been sold to so many for so long that it sounds like just another pitch to a prospect in search of a sale. People don’t like to be treated like a target to get to buy a product. Well meaning, but that’s not good news.

The really good news is relational as Jesus invites all of us to “follow me,” and “learn from me.” To describe the kingdom he inaugurates, Jesus uses pictures like vines growing to maturity and producing fruit, or seeds sprouting into more than could be imagined from the start. Pictures like these talk of slow movement and change over time. Even the invitation to follow talks of journey, and, like the picture above, the roads is rarely in a straight line.

Back to Paul in Romans 7, after his honest personal assessment, he shakes the fog from his mind and sees this journey a bit more clearly.

Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will set me free from this life that is dominated by sin and death? Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord….So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus.

Cutting yourself and others some slack seems right but often proves difficult. Our well-worn paths of saying to God some version of, “I don’t want you around right now” leads back to the same old failures. I know mine and you know yours, and we know it’s not good and we still return.

Proverbs 26:11 says it well,

Like a dog that returns to its vomit, so a fool repeats his folly.

But the great news of the Good News is that we do, indeed, receive a long gospel. Shame and regret keep too many away from fresh starts. The long gospel takes its time to do its work. Like a parent leading any child toward maturity, our God quietly works discipline, instruction, reassurance, guidance into the everyday of every day.

When Paul tells his Roman readers that God will use every bit of life to work together for good, it’s not a magic wand turning the bad of the world into sunshine and rainbows. Rather, the events of any life, however wonderful or vile, become the raw stuff he uses to form us more into the likeness of our Savior and Brother, Jesus.

And in the midst of it, you and I are not condemned when we blow it, again. Let that truth sink in, because while we might condemn ourselves while slipping on the cloak of shame, the resounding truth is almost too big to grasp.

So now there is now no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus.

Before you rush along, read that line again and let the meaning sink in below the surface level.

Not free to do anything I want, but

• free to be a bit more of the person I was created to be.

• Free to quit returning to my vomit, like a dog.

• Free to drop shame by the wayside.

• Free to embrace the do-over for which my heart yearns.

Sure, I will face the consequences of my choices, and certainly I will carry scars of bad calls, but God he still invites me to follow, as his child no matter how many times I walk the other way. Now, that’s good news.

So, I’ll keep writing these scribbles until I choose to be done, but know they come from someone who is shot full of holes but intent on getting better, just like you.

With that wind in our sails, let’s live as a free person in Jesus today!

Music for the week…

Fly Me to the Moon

Wynton at the Carnival

I Still Hear Mama Prayin’

Crowned by Mercy

An Hour of Mountain Gospel

How ‘bout bad jokes for the day…

FUN THINGS TO DO ON AN ELEVATOR

~ Ask if you can push the button for other people, but push the wrong ones.

~ Bring a camera and take pictures of everyone in the elevator.

~ Crack open your briefcase or purse, and while peering inside, ask, "Got enough air in there?"

~ Hold the doors open and say you're waiting for your friend. After a while, let the doors close and say, "Hi Greg. How's your day been?"

~ Lay down the twister mat and ask people if they would like to play.

~ Listen to the elevator walls with your stethoscope.

~ Pretend you are a flight attendant and review emergency procedures and exits with the passengers.

~ Push the buttons and pretend they give you a shock. Smile, and go back for more.

~ Stand silently and motionless in the corner, facing the wall, without getting off.

~ Swat at flies that don't exist.

**************************

Lunching with a friend in a fast-food restaurant, I was telling her about a teenager who had rear-ended my car. The teen blamed me for the accident.

"She even called me every dirty name in the book!" I said.

Just then I looked over to the next table where two nine-year-old boys had apparently been paying close attention to my story.

One said to the other, "There's a book?"

Riding my bike around Bend to run errands, visit, and just doing life, I see so much more than when in my truck. I enjoy looking at and into the cars that pass and wondering about the driver. Where are they off to? What is their life like? How are they feeling as they sit in traffic?

The other day I noticed on three different cars the same bumper-sticker that looked like the one above. You’ve seen it around, maybe you even have one of your own. And it got me to wondering where it came from.

So, I looked it up and discovered I had forgotten this was from Lord of the Rings, by J.R.R. Tolkien. In a letter from Gandalf, the wizard, to Bilbo Baggins, this was part of a riddle the latter would use to identify the true leader of Isildur.

When meeting Aragorn, Bilbo hears him recite this poem, the Riddle of the Strider.

All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.

From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring;
Renewed shall be blade that was broken,
The crownless again shall be king.

While Tolkien use this to introduce and validate Aragorn, the first two lines give us a bit to chew on.

All that is gold does not glitter flips the old proverb on its head and makes a reader stop to make sense of it. When I read that I think about how many times I have missed the extraordinary when it’s dressed down. Even consider Jesus: Isaiah predicts he would not be anything physically imposing but still one who would change the world.

I wonder who, among friends both close and casual, have I judged prematurely and overlooked as we move along? That’s easy to do, especially when it’s someone far from my world and worldview, like the foreigner or the homeless, the widow or the outsider.

A friend who also volunteers with the Shepherd’s House Share Van that goes out to the camps around here, has taken to calling the homeless he serves as his “teachers.” He not only works to recognizes the imago dei in each one, but also as those who have gold to share, even though smudged by dirt.

Paul, in 2 Corinthians 5, gets at this truth among those who have begun to follow Jesus.

…Christ’s love controls us. Since we believe that Christ died for all, we also believe that we have all died to our old life. He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them.

So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know him now! This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!

Paul is looking and finding the gold buried in each life, and so should we. How different might my life look with the attitude of searching for the treasure each one carries, and then holding a mirror up to that one for them to see their value and encourage them in their journey. And think about how much you have learned along the way from the most humble people.

The next line in the riddle that has become bumper-sticker-worthy also can teach. Not all those who wander are lost might sound like justification for a pointless, goalless, vagrant lifestyle, but that wasn’t Tolkien’s point. Aragorn, through his unconventional life, had been strengthening his character and growing in wisdom toward fulfilling his destiny that would show itself many years later.

Truth is that some who wander do little with their gifts and abilities, don’t seek to serve and be of use are indeed lost, drifting, just waiting for whatever comes. But not all, and it’s not my business to determine who is who.

The point for me lies in not concluding a play is over in the first or second act of another person’s life…or even of my own. One of the great hinge-points of theology and life is the mystery of the wisdom of God weaving every part of life to create all he desires into the life-fabric of his children. It’s almost like a grand drama of redemption playing out in each believer, with the Author alone holding the last page.

That’s why, in the midst of the most challenging of lives, Jesus-followers in every generation live hopeful, expectant lives to the end. We wander but are never lost. We believe what Paul wrote to the Philippians, who faced their own questions.

For I am confident of this very thing, that he who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.

Without a map we journey. Like Aragorn, beneath any rough or unfinished exterior, lies potential nobility and strength. His by heritage and hard-won lessons, ours through our identity in Jesus and his finished work on the cross. And the same God who brought us to life has promised to continue to perfect it all the way home.

For me, that breeds encouragement. For my view of others, it helps me grow in patience and walking alongside. There is truth to be found in great literature like the Riddle of the Strider. One day, like Aragorn, we will meet our destiny, in Jesus and his kingdom.

Never quit the pursuit of your future.

MusicMusicMusic

From SactoSheri…blame her

Some Classic Reba

One Hymn Reimagined

Crowder got Robbed from the Grave

Create in Me

Funnies, shuuure

Ricky was deployed with his Marine unit for months in the Sandbox. He had a girl back home he loved deeply, thought of often, and her picture was always in his pocket.

One fateful day, Ricky got a letter from the girl that read,

“Dear Ricky, I’m sorry to tell you this but I don’t love you any more. In fact, I’ve been cheating on you here at home. The distance is too great and it’s not fair to either of us to continue. Please send me back my picture. I’m sorry, Rosalee.”

Ricky was stunned and furious and fumed for a while. The next afternoon Ricky talked to all of his hooch-mates and asked them for any extra pictures of their girls, sisters, cousins or friends for him to borrow.

In addition to his now ex-girlfriend’s picture, Ricky packed up the stack of 57 photos and sent them home to her. His brief note to her read,

“Dear Rosalee, I’m sorry but I can’t remember who you are. Please take your picture from the pile and send the rest back to me.”

**********************

A pirate captain procured a map that claimed to lead to buried treasure.

After months of hard sailing, his crew caught site of an island, right where the treasure map showed it to be. The captain and his first mate disembarked to search out the treasure, which was supposed to lie deep within a swamp at the center of the island.

Sure enough, at the center of the island they found a swamp. The captain and his first mate bravely entered the swamp, even though their feet sank into the muck. As they proceeded, the swamp got deeper; oozy mud rose above their ankles; soon they were knee-deep.

Suddenly, the captain banged his shin against something hard. He reached down, groping through the slime, and pulled up a treasure chest. Eagerly they pried the lock, and discovered gold and jewels beyond imagination!

The captain turned to his first mate and said, "Arrrr, matey, that just goes to show ye! Booty is only shin deep!"

While cruising around Substack recently, I came across a blog post that included the story repeated below. It’s worth the read.

I witnessed something at a coffee shop. Teenager working register. Couldn’t have been more than sixteen. New uniform, still stiff. The kind of nervous energy that gives away someone on their first or second day, checking everything twice, moving carefully, trying hard to get it right.

Customer ordered. The kid rang it wrong. Maybe he misheard. Maybe his hands weren’t steady yet. Either way, it was a small mistake, the kind that happens a hundred times a day in every coffee shop in every city in the world.

The customer didn’t see it that way.

He raised his voice. Then he raised it more. Called the kid stupid. Incompetent. Made a scene the entire shop could hear. The kid kept apologizing, over and over, his voice getting smaller each time, his eyes going glassy. He was doing everything right. Keeping his composure. Not arguing back. Standing there and taking it the way young people are taught to do when a customer is unhappy, like absorbing it is part of the job description.

The manager came over from the back. Middle aged woman. Calm. I expected what usually happens. The apology. The offer of a free drink. The gentle redirecting of the customer’s anger into something manageable. The quiet message sent to the kid that keeping the customer happy matters more than what just happened to him.

Instead she looked at the customer and said: “Get out.”

The whole shop went still.

Customer looked shocked. “Excuse me?”

“You heard me. Get out of my shop. Don’t come back.”

Customer sputtered. “I’m the customer. He messed up.”

She didn’t raise her voice. Didn’t flinch. “He’s sixteen. It’s his second day. He made a mistake. You’re an adult who chose cruelty. Leave.”

The customer left. Angry. Cursing loud enough for the whole street to hear.

The manager turned to the kid. The shop was completely silent. “You okay?”

He nodded. Still shaking. “I’m sorry I messed up.”

She looked at him for a moment. The way people look at someone when they want to make sure the words actually land. “Everyone messes up. That’s how we learn. What you don’t deserve is abuse. Not here. Not anywhere.”

For a second nobody moved. Then someone started clapping. Then the table beside them. Then the whole shop, a full coffee shop on a weekday morning, applauding a manager who chose her employee over a customer. Who chose dignity over profit. Who looked at a sixteen year old boy near tears behind a register and decided that was where she drew the line.

I started going to that coffee shop every day after that. Not just for the coffee. To watch what that manager had built. The way her employees moved through the space. Relaxed. Attentive. Like people who knew they were safe to make mistakes and learn from them without being made to feel worthless for it. They stayed. They smiled. They genuinely cared about the people they were serving. Because someone had cared about them first and made it clear that care was the standard in that room.

That kid is still there. Three years later. Different uniform now. Shift manager. Training new employees, walking them through the register, showing them the rhythms of the place. And when they mess up, which they do, because everyone does, I have heard him say it himself, steady and clear, the same words that were said to him on his second day.

“Mistakes are okay. Abuse isn’t. We protect each other here.”

Sometimes the best business decision you will ever make is choosing humanity over the customer is always right.

I would have loved to be a fly on the wall of that shop. Whether it all actually happened just that way or not, there is plenty in the story to digest and from which to draw lessons. This is a simple example of everyday justice, called on at the moment of need without time for preparation. No fanfare, just action that carried a lifetime of impact, at least in one kid.

Moves like this manager took, I believe, flow out of a settled band of convictions about what is right and how people ought to be treated. While this isn’t a Jesus-people story, I see grace and gospel all over it. Think about how this reflects Micah 6:8.

He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.
And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God.

An old west phrase for people like this manager who stands their ground in the face of many reasons to back off is “that one’s got sand.” Not to be blustered away, she had a firm grip on what was right and just and merciful then humbly acted on it with “Get out of my shop. Don’t come back” to the bully.

There’s an interesting vignette in the Jesus narrative in Matthew 12 that can help with this. Jesus, in the midst teaching those who gathered, is once again interrupted…

Then a demon-possessed man, who was blind and couldn’t speak, was brought to Jesus. He healed the man so that he could both speak and see. The crowd was amazed and asked, “Could it be that Jesus is the Son of David, the Messiah?”

But when the Pharisees heard about the miracle, they said, “No wonder he can cast out demons. He gets his power from Satan, the prince of demons.”

These tightly-wound religious honchos had no answer to what the crowd began to believe from what was witnessed, so they jumped to a supernaturally wrong conclusion, that Jesus was not Messiah, rather he was an emissary of Satan himself. Their intent to expose Jesus instead condemned themselves.

In Mt. 12: 25-37, Jesus carves up these chuckleheads with their own argument, then exposes their dark hearts for all to see. The high and proud are brought low and shamed in front of the crowd. In the midst of his denunciation, two sentences speak to what we are talking about and are worth pondering.

For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of. A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him.

So, the question for the week for you and me just might be a hard one: What am I storing up in my heart that when my coffee-shop moment comes, then what, if anything, will come out of my mouth?

Blending the story with Micah 6:8 and Jesus’ words leaves me with an example, a template and a ponder.

The example is from the manager who rose to protect at her own risk, and while losing a customer, she did more for a young man than any paycheck could accomplish. Out of her heart flowed quiet power as she stood by her young worker. I’d like to think you and I would do the same…if we thought fast enough.

The template answers the question, “What does God look to see in me?” Act. Love. Walk. Having decided beforehand what I believe is right frees me to “act justly” when the moment arises. And those actions flow from a desire, however imperfectly, to “love mercy” as a first priority in relationships. Mercy relieves. Mercy shares. Mercy stands with. As I act justly and love mercy, I see myself more clearly as part of something bigger than me, so walking in humility with God then comes quite naturally.

And so, for me and maybe for you, the ponder is personal.

• Is my heart full of justice, mercy and humility so that when a moment is present, I am ready to say and act in ways that reflect all I say I believe?

Probably worth investing some time. Wouldn’t want to be unprepared for the next opportunity to stand for others, even while in line at a store.

In other words…

One day on the way home from church a little girl turned to her mother and said, "Mommy, the preacher's sermon this morning confused me."
The mother said, "Oh! Why is that?
The girl replied, "Well, he said that God is bigger than we are. Is that true?"
"Yes, that's true," the mother replied.
"He also said that God lives within us. Is that true too?"
Again the mother replied, "Yes."

"Well," said the girl. "If God is bigger than us and he lives in us, wouldn't He show through?"

Music for the week

New to me, thanks, Dane!

The Swan

Justice Rolls

Some Classic Hezekiah Walker

An Hour of Piano and Cello as Background

Lame Joke? Sure…

An avid duck hunter was in the market for a new bird dog. His search ended when he found a dog that could actually walk on water to retrieve a duck.

Shocked by his find, he was sure none of his friends would ever believe him. He decided to try to break the news to a friend of his, a pessimist by nature, and invited him to hunt with him and his new dog.

As they waited by the shore, a flock of ducks flew by. They fired and a duck fell. The dog responded and jumped into the water. The dog, however, did not sink but instead walked across the water to retrieve the bird, never getting more than his paws wet. The friend saw everything but did not say a single word.

On the drive home the hunter asked his friend, "Did you notice anything unusual about my new dog?"

"I sure did," responded his friend, "He can't swim."

****************

When the new patient was settled comfortably on the couch, the psychiatrist began his therapy session.

"I'm not aware of your problem," the doctor said. "So perhaps, you should start at the very beginning."

"Of course." replied the patient. "In the beginning, I created the Heavens and the Earth..."

Fifty years ago I was on the backside of squeezing four years into five at the Mother of All Universities, Oregon State. Along the way I developed friendships with a number of dudes who enjoyed the same stuff, had similar goals and made me better for being around them. We were young and full of life. Fifty years later we still have fun and hold one another accountable to who we say we want to be.

Doing life together, even though we are spread around the West and connect via Zoom on a regular basis, is better than going it alone.

Our friendships are not normal for most adults, especially men. If you pay attention, you can hear multiple voices from all points on the compass warning of an epidemic in America that threatens so many of us.

There is plenty out in society to be concerned about, like the dangers from infectious diseases once controlled now making a comeback due to people not trusting proven vaccines, or the diminution of the wall between church and state driven by some wanting theocracy, or even how polarized our politics have become to the point where compromise is a dirty word and empathy is called heresy.

These are serious issues, to be sure, but social scientists show as individuals and society at large, we might be on a wrong track orbiting around a serious malady. The issue is an epidemic of loneliness.

While we have never been more digitally connected, society has never been so isolated. There is plenty to blame for this: The addictive smartphone culture and social media algorithms often rise to the top of any list of culprits. The deception is I might have many “friends” on Facegram and enjoy “likes” on Instabook, but in reality I can feel alone, and often truly are.

The harvest that loneliness from isolation brings to the barn looks like a spike in the past 20 years of people in therapy, an all-to-easy step to cultural isolation where anyone “other” is a threat, a rise in cynicism and a general feeling of meh that has led to an increase of depression, self-harm and suicide. Google it if you don’t believe me.

Add to that the recent seduction of AI “friends” that accentuates less human connection and aloneness. Human interaction is always problematic, whether platonic or romantic. On a podcast I heard this week, I learned that 35% of men under 40 surveyed would prefer an AI companion over a flesh and blood woman…now that’s alarming.

A long article in the Atlantic calls our time the “Anti-Social Generation.” One line in it states, “Self imposed solitude might be the most important social fact of the 21st century in America.” When our world is all about optimizing myself, there is little room left of others.

But the fact remains that we are built for connection with others. And this is not a new construct at all. Part of the human condition is isolation and that soothed by association. More than a minute ago, John Dunne, in the 1600s, so beautifully pens it like this.

No man is an island, Entire of itself, Every man is a piece of the continent, A part of the main.

If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less. As well as if a promontory were.

As well as if a manor of thy friend’s Or of thine own were: Any man’s death diminishes me, Because I am involved in mankind,

And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; It tolls for thee

Isn’t is interesting that over 400 years ago, Dunne called people to understand the interconnectedness of all people, and that at a time much, so much slower in all aspects than ours. Do I really see “Any man’s death diminishes me” or do I spend so much time as an island that I hardly notice those around me, alive or dead.

And spinning the clock back even further, Solomon, in Ecclesiastes, leans into the same theme. Here from the Message paraphrase is his passage on friendships in Ecclesiastes 4.

It’s better to have a partner than go it alone.
Share the work, share the wealth.
And if one falls down, the other helps,
But if there’s no one to help, tough!

Two in a bed warm each other.
Alone, you shiver all night.

By yourself you’re unprotected.
With a friend you can face the worst.
Can you round up a third?
A three-stranded rope isn’t easily snapped.

This passage underlines the truth that we are not designed to do this life alone, yet the self-imposed loneliness epidemic spreads by the day. We need friends. Wired to do life with partners calls for a level of commitment many avoid or aren’t prepared for. Knowing where to start building a friendship can be tricky.

Tim Keller says there are three ingredients to a healthy friendship.

• Compatibility.

• Transparency.

• Constancy.

Let’s tease these out a bit.

Compatibility makes sense with having a friend. It’s the “You, too?” moment in a conversation that hooks you into another person. Sometimes around a hobby or a favorite author or even a quirky passion project, like your secret stash of Lego figurines in the spare room closet. Commonalities naturally tie us together with others.

If you find yourself desiring connection in an effort to push loneliness to the sidelines, look for a group or a person who likes what you like. Take the risk to lean in and engage. This is good and often necessary first step.

Going deeper from the compatibility stage, you will hit the fork in the road, that of transparency. A fork because we all have to choose how much of ourselves to share with others. My carefully curated image quickly tarnishes as I reveal more of myself to another. Risk and reward. I open myself up to rejection, especially if I dump all my stuff all at once, so small steps might be the best route.

You will often find with a new true friend that your openness will encourage the other to do the same. The reward is a freedom to not fear rejection if your image doesn’t exactly match the real you and then walking forward with another broken person. After all, we all are just tall children trying to figure it all out.

Keller’s third component to friendship is constancy. These are the friends you have fought with and fought with, back to back and face to face, and still remained friends. These are the ones who have stuck with you and you with them through all their junk. These are the few you will not hesitate to call at 3am when the need is great.

So, it’s no accident that over 50 times in the New Testament, Christ-followers are challenged to do life in “one another” ways. Even a quick study of the bible shows how critical it is for healthy faith is not to be done in isolation, but doing it all with others. The catalog of “one anothers” wraps arms around most all of what we are called to be and do.

When a believer moves away on their own, they are missing out on much of the life-force of the body of Christ, the church. Not the building down the street, but the flawed folks inside. And the losing goes in both directions: The person misses the human contact that promotes growth, and the group doesn’t benefit from the gifts of the one gone.

Making and keeping friends demands work and going it alone is, in many ways, easier, but we simply are built to travel with others. This week, maybe take inventory of your relationships. Take some time to ask yourself questions along these lines:

• How much time am I spending alone, entertained by artificial relationships?

• Can I name a 3am friend with whom I have been honest with about my life?

• How am I doing discovering and maintaining my close friendships?

• What changes might I make to deepen my bonds to friends?

While men struggle more with this than women, the problem is universal and is growing. How about this week address this from two directions. First, take a hard, honest look at how you’re doing in this area, looking for areas needing improvement and committing to a plan moving forward. And second, touch base with your friends, reassuring them of your commitment to them and the worth they hold in your life.

Let’s live this life together and turn our backs to isolation and loneliness. We are better together.

Trust me, I know this is just a tip of the iceberg post. I’d love to hear your thought on what I’ve missed and ways you have found to grow in deeper friendships. Sound good? Let’s go.

Music Time

Tommy and Billy Workin’ Men, Together

The Postmodern Jukebox on a Midnight Train

Phil and Jamie plant Flowers

The Petersen’s find a foundation

Psalm 34 strait from Brooklyn

We Got Lame Jokes

A family moved their grandmother into assisted living after it was clear she could not take care of herself any longer.

The old woman sat in a chair in the sunroom, and as he began to slouch to the right an aide rushed over and sat her upright. Not long after that she leaned over to the left. The aide came over and sat her straight in the chair.

Later that day the family came by visit and asked, “Mom, how do you like the place? Are they taking good care of you?”

“I guess it’s fine, but they’re sure strict…they won’t even let me fart!”

*****************

Man #1: "I was told you are one of the leading experts on genealogy in our country."

Man #2: "Indeed, I am. That is what I wrote my doctoral dissertation on."

Man #1: "Great! Can you tell me how they fit inside that little lamp?"

There sure seems to be a bumper crop of evil in the world these days. Perhaps one result of technology’s instant feed of all things everywhere is that the outlook looks worse than ever and that everything lies in shadow, or maybe we really are devolving worldwide…I don’t know.

In the final book of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, when evil and violence looks overwhelming and hopes of rescue slim, Sam Gamgee, a hobbit of some fame, considers his moment.

Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty forever beyond its reach. His song in the Tower had been defiance rather than hope; for then he was thinking of himself. Now, for a moment, his own fate . . . ceased to trouble him. . . . Putting away all fear, he cast himself into a deep, untroubled sleep.

“…in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing…”

The shadows in our time can seem more like walls than vapors. Nations at war. Innocents slaughtered. Famine taking children. Families dissolving. Leaders not leading. Authority questioned. Betrayal. Envy. Heartlessness toward the vulnerable.

However dangerous and dark our days look, these shadows are only small and passing things…because of what we celebrated last Sunday. Because of Easter we live in what N.T. Wright calls the “now but not yet” moment of history.

T.S. Elliot, in his poem, The Hollow Men, puts it this way:

Between the idea
And the reality
Between the motion
And the act
Falls the Shadow

In the face of our days’ rising tide of evildoers and their evil deeds, it’s easy to only see shadow. Easter calls that to account and simply says, “No.”

Not yet will no longer be confused with never because of an empty tomb and a risen savior.

We recognize the price of love willingly given for all at the Friday execution, so extraordinary in power that even the heavy, foot-thick curtain in the Temple separating the people from God was torn top to bottom at his death. A physical symbol of access to all that is God open for all to enter.

Then on Sunday, life and light strode out from the shadow of death and darkness. Christ, victorious. Jesus, never to be seen again as a mere good teacher or moral exemplar. FatherSonSpirit together reconciling the world to himself. For God really did so love the world that he gave.

Easter changed everything.

Paul, who experienced his own freedom from the shadows, explaining again to a young church why believers can be people of hope in dark times, writes this in 1 Corinthians 15.

Let me now remind you, dear brothers and sisters, of the Good News I preached to you before. You welcomed it then, and you still stand firm in it. It is this Good News that saves you if you continue to believe the message I told you—unless, of course, you believed something that was never true in the first place.

I passed on to you what was most important and what had also been passed on to me. Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said. He was buried, and he was raised from the dead on the third day, just as the Scriptures said. He was seen by Peter and then by the Twelve. After that, he was seen by more than 500 of his followers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died. Then he was seen by James and later by all the apostles. Last of all, as though I had been born at the wrong time, I also saw him….

But let me reveal to you a wonderful secret. We will not all die, but we will all be transformed! It will happen in a moment, in the blink of an eye, when the last trumpet is blown. For when the trumpet sounds, those who have died will be raised to live forever. And we who are living will also be transformed. For our dying bodies must be transformed into bodies that will never die; our mortal bodies must be transformed into immortal bodies.

Then, when our dying bodies have been transformed into bodies that will never die, this Scripture will be fulfilled: “Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” For sin is the sting that results in death, and the law gives sin its power. But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ.

So, my dear brothers and sisters, be strong and immovable. Always work enthusiastically for the Lord, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless.”

‭‭So, as Easter shrinks in the rear view mirror, it’s easy to rush past the ongoing impact of the resurrection in daily life. Paul, never one to miss a chance to link doctrine to action, in the last two sentence of the of the section above showers his readers with the “so what?” of what Easter teaches:

• You can live with strength and confidence even as shadows surrounds you.

• Because you believe sin and death have been swallowed up in victory, you are invited to dive headlong into living every day to the full.

Until we die, we will be encountering bad people doing bad things that will rock our canoe like an unwelcome speedboat wake on water. Easter says, “Regardless of what you face, remember always that Jesus won, and in him we win, as well.”

Martin Luther back in the 1500s thunders this truth of Christ’s victory in the midst of a broken and dangerous world. Read here the lyrics of A Mighty Fortress. Read them as a poem, divorced from the familiar tune.

A mighty fortress is our God,
a bulwark never failing;
our helper he, amid the flood
of mortal ills prevailing.
For still our ancient foe
does seek to work us woe;
his craft and power are great,
and armed with cruel hate,
on earth is not his equal.

Did we in our own strength confide,
our striving would be losing,
were not the right Man on our side,
the Man of God’s own choosing.
You ask who that may be?
Christ Jesus, it is he;
Lord Sabaoth his name,
from age to age the same;
and he must win the battle.

And though this world, with devils filled,
should threaten to undo us,
we will not fear, for God has willed
his truth to triumph through us.
The prince of darkness grim,
we tremble not for him;
his rage we can endure,
for lo! his doom is sure;
one little word shall fell him.

That Word above all earthly powers
no thanks to them abideth;
the Spirit and the gifts are ours
through him who with us sideth.
Let goods and kindred go,
this mortal life also;
the body they may kill:
God’s truth abideth still; His kingdom is forever.

Paul and Martin got it right. Because of Easter you and I can stand strong and immovable, tending to all that makes up a worthy life, trusting that he will use every part of it for his glory and kingdom growth, whether we see it or not.

At the beginning of Revelation, John’s masterful allegory of faith in times of Rome’s fearful evildoings, he gets a glimpse of Jesus as he is now.

When I saw him, I fell at his feet as if I were dead. But he laid his right hand on me and said, “Don’t be afraid! I am the First and the Last. I am the living one. I died, but look—I am alive forever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and the grave.

So, friend, consider carefully the cold darkness of your shadow. Now, beloved, don’t be afraid, but pray for eyes to see and a heart to be comforted by the truth that the Light from the empty grave will make it “a small and passing thing” you must walk through, but never alone.

Let’s go together!

Music…for the beginning of spring and after Easter

First, Vivaldi “Spring” 1st movement

And Copeland with “Fanfare”

Ride On, King Jesus!

Sometimes a new format brings the message home…

…and, naturally, a chorus for the ages

Funnies, sure but no guarantee of quality

My new neighbor lady owns several cats. On a recent visit to meet her, she introduced her cats to me.

Neighbor: "That's Astrophe, that's Erpillar, that's Aract, that's Alogue"

Me: "Where on earth did you get such unusual names?”

Neighbor: “Oh, those are their last names. Their first names are Cat."

****************

As I was doing my jogging exercise on the road this morning, I got mugged!

I told the police, "First, I got hit by a violin, then a clarinet and finally a tuba."

The policeman said, "I think this was an orchestrated attack."

Once again we stand almost midweek in Holy Week, bracketed by Palm Sunday and Easter.

Each day of that week was packed with memorable events and like a river picking up speed toward a set of falls, the pace quickened with each passing day. As we read it now, the outcome, like a person caught in that river, moved toward an unavoidable conclusion.

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday often finds Jesus in the Temple area, teaching with power, confidence, defiance and conviction. There is no missing the point of his parables, that being the condemnation of the religious authorities, their hypocrisy and many injustices that went on around them and most all people of faith. After three years of ministry, Jesus had a clear view of what ailed his people, and it began at the very top.

By Spy Wednesday, when Judas betrayed Jesus for a small bag of money, the crowds were still behind Jesus. But the leaders, who had repeatedly been taken to the woodshed, stood by, furious and looking for an opening to arrest this trouble-making itinerant rabbi. Plans and plots were hatched and set in motion. Traditions, positions of power, order and stability must be maintained, and if one needed to die, so be it.

At Thursday’s Passover seder in the Upper Room, John records the most intimate time of “final instructions and encouragements” his close followers had with Jesus. He condenses much of his teaching (the new commandment), demonstrates servant-leadership (washing feet), teaches of the nature of belief and intimacy with God (vine and branches), hinting of hard times to come, the presence and work of the Spirit going forward, and assures them their sadness will turn to joy in due time.

After this, in John 17, Jesus prays. Take a bit of time and read his words, slowly, and imagine Jesus’ voice in that borrowed room.

After saying all these things, Jesus looked up to heaven and said,

“Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son so he can give glory back to you. For you have given him authority over everyone. He gives eternal life to each one you have given him. And this is the way to have eternal life—to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, the one you sent to earth. I brought glory to you here on earth by completing the work you gave me to do. Now, Father, bring me into the glory we shared before the world began.

“I have revealed you to the ones you gave me from this world. They were always yours. You gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything I have is a gift from you, for I have passed on to them the message you gave me. They accepted it and know that I came from you, and they believe you sent me.

“My prayer is not for the world, but for those you have given me, because they belong to you. All who are mine belong to you, and you have given them to me, so they bring me glory. Now I am departing from the world; they are staying in this world, but I am coming to you.

Holy Father, you have given me your name; now protect them by the power of your name so that they will be united just as we are. During my time here, I protected them by the power of the name you gave me. I guarded them so that not one was lost, except the one headed for destruction, as the Scriptures foretold.

“Now I am coming to you. I told them many things while I was with them in this world so they would be filled with my joy. I have given them your word. And the world hates them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. I’m not asking you to take them out of the world, but to keep them safe from the evil one. They do not belong to this world any more than I do.

Make them holy by your truth; teach them your word, which is truth. Just as you sent me into the world, I am sending them into the world. And I give myself as a holy sacrifice for them so they can be made holy by your truth.

“I am praying not only for these disciples but also for all who will ever believe in me through their message. I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one—as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me.

“I have given them the glory you gave me, so they may be one as we are one. I am in them and you are in me. May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me. Father, I want these whom you have given me to be with me where I am. Then they can see all the glory you gave me because you loved me even before the world began!

“O righteous Father, the world doesn’t know you, but I do; and these disciples know you sent me. I have revealed you to them, and I will continue to do so. Then your love for me will be in them, and I will be in them.”

The several times we read in the gospels of Jesus walking off by himself to spend time with the Father, we don’t hear his words, but here we do. On the threshold of the passion, he prays for himself, for his followers, and for all who will believe down to today.

I think we can lump ourselves into his prayers for the apprentices in that room that night. Here’s how it breaks down how Jesus prays for those young men and for all who believe.

Jesus prays for protection.

“protect them by the power of your name”

The very name of God carries power and Jesus asks for that name to be the hedge of protection between his people and the evil one seeking to destroy all that is good. Think about that as the cold fog of worry creeps close to your door. The God of the universe is protecting you, not from all harm, but from that which will crush all hope a person. What has been given can never be taken away.

Jesus prays that God’s work in each one will continue and mature to the end.

“Make them holy by your truth; teach them your word, which is truth.”

To be made holy is the process of faith-in-life sharpening as we become more like Jesus in thought and action. Holy things are set apart, distinct, worthy. Over and over, believers are called to live out their faith more maturely with each life chapter. This is his prayer for you that you refine your life, and he asks the Father to insure its outcome.

Jesus prays for joyful unity

“I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one—as you are in me, Father, and I am in you.”

Earlier he asks that joy be a present reality for believers as they pursue unity. Notice he doesn’t say uniformity. The rest of the bible has the theme of believer unity coming to the front, because we so easily compare and compete and criticize and condemn. Jesus prays for us to joyfully stand as one, just like God stands as one, in three persons.

So…

Let the idea that Jesus, God himself, the creator and sustainer of all we see, sees you and has prayed for you.

• That you would be protected from the evil one, even as we live in a world that is bent by evil. No one can snatch you out of his hand. You are ultimately protected.

• That you would and will be made holy, living a life that reflects Jesus right where you live. The process of refining the Spirit does in each one is distinct and beautiful. You follow and let others follow in their own way.

• That you would live in joyful unity, especially in times like ours when dis-unity is so common and appears attractive. Majoring on the majors is key while letting lesser things go. That calls for turning a deaf ear to the radio screamers, any social media mockers and online preachers who love to tear down others who might do faith a bit differently.

On the front end of what would be the most incredibly hard weekend, Jesus continues to minister to his own…and to you. So, never forget:

• The King of kings is your strong tower, refuge, defender. You can rest.

• He is committed to complete your growth in faith. You do your part.

• Our goal with community is to walk together, graciously. We can get over ourselves.

Happy Easter. He is risen, indeed!

Easter music is always good

Were You There

Power of the Cross

Jesus is Risen Today

Jesus Paid It All

The Easter Song

Jokes R Guud

Fellow shows up at the local dry cleaners, looking somewhat sheepish.

"I'm really sorry to bother you with this," he says, "but I was cleaning out my closet and I found this old ticket for a suit I brought in to be cleaned five years ago! It must have fallen out of my pocket and it has been sitting in the back of my closet gathering dust since then! Would you by any chance still have the suit?"

The dry cleaner looks at the ticket and says he will go to the back of the shop to look. Fellow hears the dry cleaner rummaging around in the back for about twenty minutes. Finally, the dry cleaner emerges, covered in dust, but with a triumphant smile on his face.

"You won't believe it," says the dry cleaner, "but I have good news for you!"

"Oh my goodness!" says the fellow. "You mean you actually found it?"

"Yep!" said the dry cleaner proudly: "It'll be ready next Tuesday."

***************

ACTUAL QUESTIONS ASKED AT LIBRARIES

~ "Do you have books here?"

~ "Do you have a list of all the books written in the English language?"

~ "Do you have a list of all the books I've ever read?"

~ "Where is the reference desk?" (This was asked of a person sitting at a desk who had, hanging above her head, a sign saying "REFERENCE DESK")

~ "I was here about three weeks ago looking at a cookbook that cost $39.95. Do you know which one it is?"

~ "Which outlets in the library are appropriate for my hair dryer?"

~ "Can you tell me why so many famous Civil War battles were fought on National Park sites?"

~ "Do you have any books with photographs of dinosaurs?"

~ "I need a color photograph of Socrates."

~ "I need to find out Ibid's first name for my bibliography."

~ "Why don't you have any books by Ibid? He's written a lot of important stuff."

~ "I am looking for a list of laws that I can break that would send me back to jail for only a couple of months."