Thanksgiving Is In Season

As AverageGirl mentioned on her blog, the Thanksgiving Holiday seems to be forgotten in this consumer-driven world. So she decided to post about things she is thankful for during the month of November. I thought, "Hey, good idea! I'll jump on the Thanksgiving Bandwagon!"

Today I'm thankful for employment. I hear on the news about the economic downturn and that so many have lost their jobs. I hear about companies tightening their belts and unofficial hiring freezes.

But I'm thankful that God provides. He has always taken care of Anita and me.

And along these lines I'm thankful for God's Word in Matthew chapter 6:25-27. "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?

Living Water

A life in the Spirit is what I've been desiring more of lately. I admit that yielding to the Spirit has been a fearsome proposition for me. Why? Well, I guess it's a control issue and I'm afraid of what the Lord would have me do or say and to what circumstance he may lead me. It's a mark of faithlessness on my part and it's silly.

Today I am humbled by two things. One was by a hymn we sang in church. For some reason I cannot recall the name of it but I love hymns that remind me of my great sin and of Jesus' great salvation. The other was an analogy that came to me while doing a filthy chore in my back yard: cleaning out a rain barrel.

My wife and I thought capturing some rain water and with it watering our outdoor plants would be a nice, conservation-minded thing to do. But we rarely used it. It would fill up with only a few hours of rainfall but we never used it enough to empty it. The barrel sat full of water for months and over time it became very mucky with algae growth. We emptied it recently and today I opened the top to clean out the muck.

You've probably heard similar analogies that illustrates how we become if all we do is receive God's blessings through the Spirit, but never contribute to bless anyone else. Perhaps you recall your pastor explaining how the Dead Sea has no fish in it because not only is it incredibly salty, but because it has an inlet and yet no outlet. The water just evaporates. As opposed to the Sea of Galilee which is full of life because it has an inlet and an outlet.

Back to the rain barrel, the muck came out but only by opening it up and using a garden hose and nozzle spraying clean water on the inside. The water had to spray powerfully to peel the 16th of an inch thick mucky algae off the inside wall of the barrel. And then I had to turn it upside down to empty out the mucky water.

Perhaps I should be more afraid of the muck can build up inside me when I don't yield to the Spirit. Anyway what can we learn from this? Very likely what we need to have a life in the Spirit is:

• A willingness to be opened up and turned upside down.
  
• A willingness to bless others when the Lord has blessed us.
• The power of the Spirit to cleans us from the inside.

From John 7:37-39

On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him." By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive.

Prayer for Politics

I was listening to TFL this past week and Alistair was teaching on 1 Timothy Chapter 2. There are many applications within these 15 verses. From some of it he talks about the importance of prayer. In the first two verses he reminded us how we typically complain about our countries leaders rather than pray for them.

I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone-- for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quite lives in all godliness and holiness. 1 Tim 2:1-2.

Anita and I are both discouraged with the whole Presidential political process. It seems more of a popularity contest. And we don't really have much to chose from if we're to think we should just set up a person in office and say, "Ok, do your job and don't make my life here miserable." But what Paul is saying is "pray for them and those in authority. Alistair asked (quoting loosely), "Do you think the Berlin wall came down because of Reagan's ingenuity? No, it came down because of prayers of the people of God crying out to him."

So our attitude should be more for praying for our leaders going through this selection process. There are likely all kinds of specifics to pray for. Think about it. Pray about it. One that comes to my mind is for whomever the candidate that takes the presidency would rely more on wisdom from above rather than the wisdom of this age.

Doubting Didymus

I first took notice a few weeks ago that Thomas was also called Didymus. Most of us has heard the nickname, Doubting Thomas, but no one has ever called anyone a "Doubting Didymus". I think the alliteration would be more catchy, don't you?

Or maybe Sarchastic Toned Thomas? Read John chapter 11:1-16 and look from the point of view of the disciples that were with Jesus. Make your own observations but let me share what I noticed.

• They had just come from Judea prior, where Jesus escaped from being killed by the unbelieving Jews.
• They waited there two days after hearing news that Lazarus was sick.
• Then Jesus says we should go back after knowing Lazarus had died.

Jesus' plan was to glorify God and his disciples were simply trying to follow him and sort out the circumstances. They told him, "hey, the Jews tried to stone you back there and you want to go back??" Not only Thomas but I think they all weren't sure about what was going to happen. And then as Jesus revealed all he knew, that Lazarus was dead and the was to go there to give proof of why they should believe, Doubting Didymus pipes up and says (I imagine it in a sarchastic tone), "Oh sure, let us also go, that we may die with him". I chuckled to myself when I read it from that point of view. More seriously though, I now observe that he was not focusing on Christ but on the dangerous circumstances they had left behind two days ago.

I think we all find it difficult to keep our eyes on Jesus and instead look at and try to sort out the circumstances. I admit I do all too often. And it will take some practice to become skilled at living, obeying, facing the enemy, taking on the challenge, or whatever it might be in the midst of and in spite of what we are feeling. I've heard Alistair Begg say that courage is not the absence of fear but carrying on to face the circumstances despite our feelings of fearfulness. And then what I've noticed is when I keep our eyes on Jesus the circumstances become small, and my fears dissipate.

Mother's Day

I just got back from another trip to Spokane and Post Falls to see my aging parents. I need to post about last night as my brother Bob and I were talking with my Mom, 82 years old and dealing with Alzheimer's Disease.

Bob, who had returned to the States weeks ago from a 15-month tour of duty in Iraq, was very tired from lack of sleep and traveling. He listened while holding her hand. I read a few Psalms from her Bible. I think Psalm 100, Psalm 51, and also the priestly blessing in Numbers 6.

We also reminisced about where we grew up. I don't know why as a kid I wanted to leave. It was great. Nice yards with a creek running in the back yard. A big vegetable garden. A few acres to raise some animals and a hay field across the road. I'm sure I'm making it sound better than what it was with all the weeding, lawn mowing, fence fixing and other chores, you know.

As I was reading the Bible she said in a sing-song voice, "But we'll all be together when we die..." She said it was something that popped into her mind while reading the Bible. I'm now sure if she meant it was from her childhood or it came to mind just now. She thought a little more and said there are other verses but she couldn't remember them. She thought it was something like, "Don't be discouraged when the family moves away, but we'll all be together when we die." I was so glad to be next to her with an arm around her letting her know it's ok while she wept.

I don't have any analogy or lesson from all this but how hard it is to be away. The blessing in Numbers 6 is really great and you should read it if you never have before.

From Numbers 6:22-26
The LORD said to Moses, "Tell Aaron and his sons, 'This is how you are to bless the Israelites. Say to them:

"The LORD bless you
and keep you;

The LORD make his face shine upon you
and be gracious to you;

The LORD turn his face toward you
and give you peace."

No Greater Love

What a surprise when I received email regarding a post I made a couple of weeks ago. I recalled the chorus of a song written by the worship leader at a church in Spokane to which I attended years ago. He happened to stumble upon my blog and sent me email. He offered to send me the album in CD format because I had lost my copy of the cassette. That was very kind and very thoughtful so I thought it is worth mentioning here.

Now he is pastoring a church in Spokane named Orchard Christian Fellowship. Please look at the link to see more.

Thank you, Chris, for taking the time to send me the CD of "No Greater Love". I've loaded it on my iPod, listened, reminisced my young Christian life in Spokane, and thanked Christ for carrying me thus far.

The Bruised Reed

How many times have we clicked link after link until we find ourselves someplace we should never be. Hopefully fewer times than those of which lead us to something helpful.

Today it was helpful. Today I started with Average Girl, my wife's blog. On it is a link to Three17 by a blogger and pastor in Ireland named Mark. I noted that he mentions "The Christian in Complete Armour", a 3-part volume we own by William Gurnall, a Puritan, along with a link to another blogger posting about the "Puritan Paperback Challenge".

Though I've wanted to learn more about the Puritan's pursuit to Christianity, I also thought that to try to lift myself up to be Puritan-like is in itself a sin because it would lead to being prideful. But I searched for more information about the first paperback on the list "The Bruised Reed" by Richard Sibbes and found the entire text of it. This book is not about making myself pure but rather it is about realizing first what a sinner I am and what a need for Christ I have. Now that's a book I should read!

In my years as a follower of Christ I've found that I do not grow as close to him by the happy times in life as much as I do when after restoration from being bruised and broken. So let's see what Sibbes has to say about that.