Like a Boxer.

We do not like doing what is best for us.  The best things in life and in the Spirit require discipline.  How many treadmills are being used right now as expensive and space-consuming clothes hangers?  Our muscles require daily use or else they begin to decline.  Likewise, our faith requires daily use or it begins to suffer as well.  Paul says, ‘I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should (1Co 9:27 NLT).’  The word-picture is of a boxer beating his own body into submission.

Physically, I know when a miss a day or two on the treadmill.  I also know when I miss spending time with the Lord, or when my focus is on me instead of the Lord.  Perhaps the most important ingredient for successfully following Christ is consistency.  Consistency is doing daily and weekly what we don’t want to do, but doing it anyway because it is ultimately good.  Establish the discipline of daily meeting with Jesus, reading the Bible, praying, and attending church two times a week (once for worship, once for discipleship or service).  Doing these things will make you sharp and successful; after all, healthy things grow and develop.  On the other hand, undisciplined things decline.

Boundless.

I am a fan of ‘prison literature,’ you name it and I have probably read it.  Viktor Frankl was a Jewish psychiatrist and writer who survived the Nazi WWII concentration camps.  He writes, ‘one had to give them a why – an aim – for their lives in order to strengthen them to bear the terrible how of their circumstances.’  So true.   We all need a purpose for our life in order to make sense of it and thrive up under it.  But the strongest purpose for life comes from outside of the boundaries of this life.  Another prison writer said, ‘For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain (Phil 1:21).’  And to a group of philosophers he said, ‘For in him we live and move and have our being (Acts 17:28).’  Our purpose is far greater than hugging our grandchildren, although that will be nice someday.  Our purpose in this life touches eternity and in boundless, in fact it is unimaginable what God has in store for us.

When desire wanes…

‘I felt no desire to go to church’ wrote the teen-aged Hudson Taylor upon learning that the one he loved was not willing to become the wife of a missionary.  Yet, he writes, ‘But, thank God, the way of duty is the way of safety.  I went to the Meeting as miserable as could be; but did not come away so.’  Sometimes we just need to go to church because of duty.  As Hudson Taylor reminds us, we meet God in the process of doing what is right and what we ought to do.

Our Story, God’s Story

Recently we heard some awesome testimonies from people in the congregation.  It was a delight to hear what God has done for them.  There were stories of provision, salvation, healing, direction and encouragement.  These short stories were mere paragraphs in the story of their life with God.  Someday the book of our life will be opened and read aloud and we will be judged or rewarded accordingly (Re 20:12).  Thankfully, the Author of life will have edited out our displeasing things with the blood of Christ

David mentions ‘the testimony of God’ in Ps 119:99 NASB.  David clearly means the written story of God’s dealings with mankind.  After all, isn’t the bible really the written testimony of God’s story as understood by mankind?

As a writer I know that each sentence must fit into the paragraph and that the paragraphs must fit into the whole chapter.  Each chapter must fit into the overall story if the book is to make sense.  I love to see how individual encyclopedic entries fit into the overall book of life with God.  Paul says, ‘All these events happened to them as examples for us.  They were written down to warn us, who live at the time when this age is drawing to a close (1Co 10:11 NLT).’ 

Clearly, this age is drawing to a close.  Last year I performed a wedding and one young guest noticed my bible and asked me what it was.  I said ‘it’s my bible.’  He responded, ‘what’s a bible?’  He was 10 years old at the time and had never even heard the word ‘bible.’  So even though we live in a time when God’s story is abundant, not every one has heard the story.

We live in between the stories of the Spirit-anointed apostles and John’s end time vision when the Book of Life will be read (I prefer to think of it as a Blu-Ray quality review of our life).  Though our personal stories will not be codified into the biblical cannon, they do fit into the Book of Life as encyclopedic entries.  The Spirit has not changed, the mission has not changed, we are living Acts 29 right now.

Our personal testimonies are important.  Let’s get into God’s story by sharing our story.  Let’s read and enjoy God’s written story and let’s do our best to pass it on to those who have not heard.   As the old hymn says, ‘Let’s tell the old, old story of Jesus and his love.’

Deserts and Honey

‘How sweet are Your words to my taste! Yes, sweeter than honey to my mouth (Ps 119:103 NASB).’

Due to health concerns, I went a whole year eating minimal amounts of sugars.  In fact, I ate only what was naturally found in the foods.   During that time my desire and tastes actually changed to where I do not like so much of the overly-sugared food that is sold.  Not that I want to slam American foods but we are a bit extravagant in its use.  I feel much healthier since eliminating so much sugar and am now using a nice artificial sweetener in moderation. 

Imagine that words were food, that what we said or heard fed us or nourished others.  Someone said, ‘Should a wise man answer with windy knowledge…with useless talk, or with words which are not profitable (Job 15:2,3 NASB)?’  It would be hard to live a healthy life on cotton candy wouldn’t it?  On the other hand, we have all heard messages that we could call ‘meaty or we know someone who knows just how to encourage us with their words.

There is a good American tradition of desert after the meal.  The psalmist says that God’s words are sweet, that they are something special like honey.  But we don’t eat desert all the time, just now and then and after a meal.  A few verses earlier (v. 99) he says that the ‘ten words’ of God are what feeds him. The ‘ten words’ are the ‘testimony’ or the ‘law’ received at Mt. Sinai.  It is the word of God that nourishes us and feeds our spiritual hunger each day.  But every now and then he gives us something sweet that is just like desert (and a good cup of coffee??).

We don’t really need sugary stuff every day, but we do need good healthy nourishing food each day.  As we look towards the New Year, please seek out a daily Bible reading plan and do your best to nourish your spiritual hunger.  Better yet, start right now.  Please know that every now and then, God will top off your study with something really sweet.  Bon appetite!

Thank You CL&P!

Thank you CL&P, UI and all the other power companies and tree trimmers who came here to help!  I know you are getting a lot of grief for not getting the power on immediately, but I saw something different. 

I saw caravans of utility trucks coming into the state from the south and west on I-84; semi after semi loaded with transformers and other high power equipment; men and women working through the night and still being able to give a friendly wave as I passed them on our small dark country roads; I marveled at your ‘electrical triage’ and slow healing of our state.

As you know, there was a lot of damage to our communities.  There were fires, carbon monoxide poisonings, supply shortages, some deaths, and short tempers due to tons of trees falling on the power lines.  Such a crisis brings out what is in someone’s heart.   I saw people helping others with generators, cooking up thawing food for others to feast on, providing hot showers and warm places to sleep; I saw others transporting the aged or sick to places of refuge.  People read stories to their children by candlelight and played games with each other because their TVs were more useless than ever. 

I too was cold and in the dark for nearly 5 days, but I saw something different and just want to say thank you for your service to our state.  Thank you for the dignity and hard work you have shown to us during this crisis.

Sleeping Bride

What if the bride fell asleep and missed her wedding?  There are several movies out like The Runaway Bride where the bride gets cold feet, or has epic troubles that seem to keep her from getting to her wedding, but sleeping through it?  I have performed lots of weddings, everything from an impromptu one in blue jeans to one that had not only an orchestra but several string ensembles throughout the magnificent hotel.  Most of these brides reported to me that they did not sleep much at all they were so nervous.

Jesus compared his church to a bride.  We men are to love our wives as Christ loved the church, in other words Jesus dearly loved the church.  Yet, Jesus told the parable of some bridesmaids who missed the wedding because ‘they all became drowsy and fell asleep (Mt 25:5 NIV).’  So it is possible to be all dressed up for the wedding and fall asleep.  Just a few verses prior to the parable Jesus warns, ‘Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold (Mt 24:12 NIV).’

I believe that the church is well prepared for a frontal attack from the Evil One.  Our adrenaline would flame-up and we would battle to the death.  However, far more deadly is Jesus’ parable where the groom is gone a long time and the bridesmaids get drowsy, a death-like apathy.  In Greek mythology, Hypnos was the personification of sleep, and his twin brother was Thanatos, death.

During the doldrums of this summer, I mused, ‘what if the church just disappeared?’  What if Cornerstone disappeared?  Would anyone notice?  The choice is ours.  We can be lulled to sleep or we can live with the daily anticipation of our Lord’s return.  ‘Let us be glad and rejoice and honor him. For the time has come for the wedding feast of the Lamb, and his bride has prepared herself (Re 19:7 NLT).’

Firmly Rooted to Weather the Storm

 Just before hurricane Irene struck I heard a meteorologist say that he expected a lot of trees to fall down because the wind would be blowing opposite the normal direction.  Usually, severe storms and wind come from the NW here and therefore the trees have developed an extensive root system to compensate.  Possibly they even lean a tad into the wind.  Because of the stress of past storms they are prepared for that direction.  Irene came from a rare direction, the SE, so trees were more easily toppled.  In our spiritual life, we all have a history of faith that has weathered specific storms of trials or temptations; we have developed ‘faith roots’ to compensate for the future storms.  Yet we should expect an occasional storm from all directions. 

To weather life’s spiritual storms, God has developed a system to help our root structures grow in three directions:

1. Celebration.  Each of us is called to worship God with our brothers and sisters.  Yet recently church leaders have noted that attending church 42 weeks a year is now ‘normal.’  That means it is now normal for Christians to miss over two months a year.

2. Community.  We are called to know God’s word, but beyond Bible knowledge we are called to live it out in relationship; to actually grow Christ-like character.  Someone has said, ‘Classrooms build knowledgeable Christians; living rooms build mature Christians.’  Yet I’ve overheard some say that on Wednesdays they can ‘just drop the kids off.’

3. Calling.  Each of us was created for a purpose and need to be serving our Lord in some capacity.  Yet roughly only 20% in any given church actually volunteer regularly.

I encourage you to rethink your church attendance.  Every firmly-rooted Christian should attend church twice a week, once for celebration, once for community.  Your individual calling may fit into one of those two slots or may require a third time commitment.  I know there are many valid reasons to stay home, but please re-evaluate your heart.  Houses can be repaired and new meat purchased for the freezers, but a damaged faith will have consequences for all eternity and will probably affect others as well.  Evaluate your attendance, participation, and passion for church – it really will help you when sudden winds of adversity blow to challenge your faith. ‘Let your roots grow down into him and draw up nourishment from him, so you will grow in faith, strong and vigorous in the truth you were taught. Let your lives overflow with thanksgiving for all he has done (Col2:7 NLT).’

My prayer for you is that you grow to become a strong, deep-rooted Christ follower.

Encountering the Spirit

Experiences with the Spirit of God crop up in unusual places, but all have a similar sound to them – wonder at meeting God.  I came across this one the other day and wanted to share it.  The writer says that he prayed for ‘a new outpouring of the Spirit,’ and ‘received it as a conscious renewal of my baptism, as a definitive, first-person affirmation of the “Yes!” and “I believe!” that others had said in my stead at the moment of my baptism. It was like surrendering the reins of my life to Christ.’  That was written by Raniero Cantalamessa, O.F.M. Cap., in Sober Intoxication of the Spirit.  According the book’s jacket, he was the ‘papal preacher to Pope John II’s pontifical household.’  It sounds to me like he had a genuine and fresh encounter with God, may it so be with all of us.

Desires

Recently we went to coastal Maine for vacation and did nothing but swim and lay around.  The highlight for me was spending time with my family.  Each morning I got up and spent time with Jesus.  During this time a passage really struck my heart: ‘You open your hand and satisfy the desires of every living thing (Ps 145:16 NIV).’  The rest of the vacation it seems that everywhere I looked I saw God satisfying the desires of His creation; Him opening up His hand to provide.

I saw a cormorant feeding on small fish.  I also saw a whale chase a school of mackerel.  It surfaced three times and came so far out of the water I could see its belly.  Not only does God take care of the basic needs of His animal kingdom, but also some deep down desires.  For example, early one morning I was by the water praying as the lobster fishermen went out to work from the small cove behind our hotel.  One lobster boat had a golden retriever on it.  That dog was in his glory going to work with his master, he barked for joy all the way out of the cove running between the bow and the stern.  Standing on the bow barking for joy, he looked like something from the movie Titanic.  His tail said it all – JOY!!!  I could even hear him barking when I could no longer see the ship out to sea.  Going out onto the lonely ocean for the day with his master was obviously this dog’s desire.

Inevitably, after seeing God provide for the animals, He asked me what I desired.  That is not an easy question to answer for someone dedicated to serve others.  Suffice it to say, that God does fulfill our desires.  For example one simple desire from my youth was fulfilled on this vacation.  I was able to go out on the ocean in a beautiful sailboat.  That is a funny dream for a corn-fed Midwestern youth, but it was awesome.  So, what is your desire?  Further on in Psalm 145, it says, ‘He fulfills the desires of those who fear him; he hears their cry and saves them (Ps 145:19 NIV).’  If you are a believer, just honor and respect the Lord and He will someday grant you the desires of your heart.