The Words Change - The Story Never Does

Today the phrase "cutting red tape" implies that a person is blasting through needless regulations to get things done. It's pretty amazing how the phrase has changed in a pretty short period of time.

Thomas Edison's laboratory in Menlo Park, New Jersey was the world's first great R&D facility. In six years, the invention factory at Menlo Park secured more than 400 patents. This was in an age where changes were few and the pace of invention was a fraction of the speed it is today. But not with Edison. The U.S. Patent Office watched and waited for packages that were wrapped in a certain kind of red tape. They knew these came from Edison's lab, and they cut these first. Packages wrapped in that tape might change everything.

So red tape was a good thing, and cutting it was something you did out of eagerness to see something new and of value. Not any more. Think of the words that have changed in our lifetime and imagine how hard it would be to explain American slang. Words that are tied to time or a particular culture can be difficult too. 

I chuckled to myself recently at the associational Bible drill when one of our New Hope kids who was using a KJV bible because no NIVs were present tripped over the archaic word "shew" (as in "Shew yourself an approved workman..." Changes happen over time.

And cultural differences? Try explaining what "lilies of the field" means to natives of Somalia, a land where no lilies grow.

But the story doesn't change.

I stood in front of some kids in VBS one year and told the story of Christ's crucifixion. Using nails and a crown of thorns from Israel, I did my best to make it understood. One child asked to touch the thorns and when he did, he looked directly at me and said, "He must have really loved us."

Yes He did.

1 John 5:11 (Msg)
This is the testimony in essence: God gave us eternal life; the life is in His Son.

That friends hasn't changed. We can haggle over translations, denominations, signs and wonders, church models and the like, but through Jesus, God's Son, born of a virgin, crucified under Pontius Pilate, laid dead in a tomb, risen on the third day - through placing our faith in Him - we have life. Life for today and eternal hope!

Words change - the story never will.

Tell somebody!

Grace!

David Wilson

There are all kinds of thieves.

When you read the gospel of Luke, you see how concerned God is with the lost and the broken - the not perfect. Luke's account of Jesus' ministry is full of His seeking and saving - whether it's the 1 sheep gone out of 99, or one prodigal son. Luke's Jesus is full of forgiveness, and easy to get to know.

Now He's one among three men  - in agony nailed to crosses, one spewing hatred, one seeking forgiveness, and the other weeping blood with the power to cancel all sins. Jesus' story began in filth and squalor, with outcasts to share the scene. No surprise then that here at the end, His companions once again are the least of society - thieves.

Jesus hadn't had kind words for thieves before -

10 The thief's purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give life in all its fullness. John 10:10 (NLT)

Those two are usually at cross-purposes. But today they met at the cross.

Jesus had already spoken words of forgiveness. Now anything He said was coming through a constant struggle just to breathe  - so each took a bit of the strength He had left. And one thief spent his reserves in a rant against Jesus. True to the very end to what he was, he asked Jesus to prove His worth by freeing Himself - and them besides. He saw no need to hold back anything he felt. If he couldn't figure a way to save himself, then why not go out cursing everyone else.

But in this awful place, within this tortured time, a faith began as one man took stock of his life. We aren't told how he got here - what went on in his youth, the wrong turns, the bitter reverses - or whether he ever did any one thing good.

What we are told is that he has measured himself and found himself lacking. Lacking by man's rule of law, and lacking in faith in God. Yet even as he saw how far short he fell of perfection, a belief began to grow that he was in the presence of One Who was. he says to the other thief -

"Don't you fear God even when you are dying? 41 We deserve to die for our evil deeds, but this man hasn't done anything wrong." Luke 23:41 (NLT)

And then he does something remarkable. 

Having heard no sermon, having received no tract, having done no act of charity, and certainly having given no offering - he asks one thing of Jesus.

"Jesus, remember me when you come into your Kingdom."

And just at that moment, all the wheels of justice come to a sudden halt. All the momentum of a life spent in crime, all the bitterness and hatred of failure, everything in his whole life pauses as Jesus replies,

"I assure you, today you will be with Me in paradise."

Today! With Jesus! In paradise! Old life ended in agony and shame. 

New life begun - Today!

Can I ask you a question?

Which kind of thief are you?

I don't mean to be harsh, just the opposite. Because that hill Jesus was on isn't very different than the land we live on. You know that at the moment Luke records, the area around the cross was populated with only two kinds of people. Same as the world is inhabited by today.

There are those who are blind to any need of a Savior, and those who have faced up to the facts of just how much they have failed and just how perfect the Man on the middle cross is. Nothing has changed. You are either blind to who you really are, or you know.

At this point maybe you think such guilt by association is weak. Maybe you have never filched a Brach's candy "sample" from your local supermarket, or "fudged" a little on that 1040A. And maybe when you compare yourself to a Hussein or a Hitler, or even a bank robber, you feel pretty good.

But just because you've never been caught in a crime doesn't mean you are exempt from the human condition. "All have sinned and fallen short" includes, well, all. You. Me. Everyone. 

Good enough, is not good enough for God. 

Have you ever stolen the smile off a child's face, who cannot help but grin at the incredible joy of life - by harsh words like, "Will you cut that out and straighten up"? Or maybe you've crushed the dreams of a teenager when you said, "You'll never amount to anything. You are just like your ____ ." Then too there's the puncture of a vision, the deflation of a hope with, "we've never done that before and it will never work."

There are all kinds of ways to steal. Steal hope. Steal joy. Steal peace. And yes, steal stuff.

We are all thieves. We all have sinned and fallen so, so, short. We aren't almost perfect, and even if we were, we'd be lost in our sins. Good enough- isn't.

On a cross next to ours though, hangs a man eager to hear from us. A man Who even here, at life's very extremity, is still seeking to save the lost.

Today! With Jesus! Today!  

You can find peace with God... today. 

Own up to who you are, ask Jesus for forgiveness and courage and power to change. Commit right now to turning away from sin and selfishness and decide to follow Jesus as Lord of your life.

Today! You can be pardoned - today!

Grace,

David

Visit with me at my blog:
http://itslikeherdingcats.blogspot.com/

Visit with Bunny at her blog:
http://henleythegreatdane.blogspot.com/

Or visit New Hope!
http://www.newhopevalp.org/

I've been reading the gospel accounts of the last week in the life of Jesus this week, and the accounts of the resurrection and immediate aftermath. Nothing new in that - I read the gospels pretty often, and this time of year I focus on that time frame with Easter just ahead. On Easter, most pastors will make a case for the resurrection and try to help people see how it changes everything. So I expect lots of my brother and sister pastors are reading along with me, looking to explain on Sunday how the resurrection happened.

But here's what just jumped off the screen at me.

The Gospels do not explain the resurrection; the resurrection explains the Gospels. Belief in the resurrection is not an appendage to the Christian faith; it is the Christian faith.

J.S. Whale

Yes!

There'd be no New Testament at all without the resurrection.

No Paul and his letters in defense of it.

Peter would be a fisherman with some great stories people would tire of hearing after a while.

John would have been a kind grandfather-type always talking about this friend he loved so that loved him.

If the resurrection had not happened, you or I would most likely never have heard about Jesus. Lots of "messiahs" had come and gone and were yet to do so. Only one is known across the ages and around the world.

As a result, we cannot ignore His claims and discount His promises to those who believe. Listen friend, it may be you are going through hard times. It may look dark and seem cold. But because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, your failures are never final. Your life, if hidden in Him, will endure the darkest days and coldest nights - and you will never be alone.

Resurrection - it's "New Hope!"

Grace and peace,

David

So it was Monday night, and that means our friend Allan came over to eat with us. Allan's been a fixture at New Hope for many years now, but his main job is roving ambassador for all of Valparaiso. I was getting reports on his whereabouts during the afternoon from Frank Weech, who saw Allan a mile away from the church, greeting some campaign workers as they waved at traffic coming through the busy intersection near our Dollar General store. Allan loves to wave at traffic so I'm sure they appreciated his help.

On the way home, we saw him walking toward the church and we picked him up in the Honda to give him a ride to our home. The very first thing he did was apologize to both of us for being late. I don't know who put the idea in Allan's head that being late was such a crime, but I'd like to. Grrr... Allan is so apologetic it makes us sad. So we headed home, turned down our street and Allan reaches for the remote to the garage door.

He LOVES opening the door.

And the crazy thing is that he's better at getting it to work on the first try than anyone else is. Allan will push the button and it immediately starts up. Then he said "I did it Bunny. I did it David." And after we tell him, "yes Allan you did it, you're the best", Allan grins from ear to ear and says "I so happy."

Monday night he said it several times. "I so happy Bunny. I so happy."

Because of his hearing and other challenges, Allan can be a handful. He doesn't "herd" well and tends to do what Allan wants to do, even when it makes preparing supper more difficult for Bunny. He's just so special though that every week we do everything we can just so we can see that smile and hear...

"I so happy."

God uses Allan in our lives. We thank God for him.

Dealing with Allan has a way of  making us step back and look at what we are doing in relating to him in love and whether it's in line with who we claim to be- followers of Jesus. And when we aren't in line with that, we adjust - we change - because it's not about us - it's about Allan.

We just want to see him smile and maybe get to hear "I so happy."

Makes me wonder as I write this...

What if all of us went into each day determined to do whatever it took to make God smile?

What if we overcame the frustrations, and stayed focused on pleasing Jesus?

What if we immediately took action to change when the Holy Spirit showed us areas where we are falling short of what we are called to be?

Wouldn't it be worth it all to stand before Jesus and hear Him say he was so happy with what we did with the life He gave us?

Grace and peace,

David
Visit with me at my blog:
http://itslikeherdingcats.blogspot.com/

Visit with Bunny at her blog:
http://henleythegreatdane.blogspot.com/

Or visit New Hope!
http://www.newhopevalp.org/

 

"I doubt it."

 

Those might be the words you live by.

 

People have let you down so many times that when you catch a glimpse of hope, or someone seems to come into your life that gives you an indication that things might be different - that your life could change - the first words that come to your mind are "I doubt it."

 

You aren't alone in that. And it's okay to begin your journey with doubts. God knows where you are going, even if you don't. Just start walking with Him. 

 

Bring your doubts with you.

 

One thing I am constantly thankful for are the realistic pictures I get when I read about people's lives as shown to us in the Bible. Despite all the people we sometimes see in church making constant efforts to present a plastic "front" to their lives, when we look at the Bible, we see a quite different person emerging. One who is real in their fears, in their worries, and in their doubts.

 

I'm reading last night, and I come across Abraham and Sarah. "God bless them", my mother would have said. They were so mixed up at times and made so many mistakes along the way.

An example:

Then one of them said, "About this time next year I will return, and your wife Sarah will have a son." Now Sarah was listening to this conversation from the tent nearby. And since Abraham and Sarah were both very old, and Sarah was long past the age of having children, she laughed silently to herself. "How could a worn-out woman like me have a baby?" she thought. "And when my master--my husband--is also so old?"
Then the LORD said to Abraham, "Why did Sarah laugh? Why did she say, 'Can an old woman like me have a baby?' Is anything too hard for the LORD? About a year from now, just as I told you, I will return, and Sarah will have a son." Sarah was afraid, so she denied that she had laughed. But he said, "That is not true. You did laugh." Gen 18:10-15 (NLT)

And that's where it ends. We are left with a picture of a woman who doubts that God can do what He says He will do, who laughs almost in His face  - is caught doing it, then denies it to His face.

Not a pretty picture.

We have several slogans around here at New Hope, but perhaps my favorite is a quote from an old saint named A.W. Tozer. I'm convinced it helped all of us as a church look past our doubts and focus on God's promises. Tozer wrote:

"Anything God has ever done, He can do now.
Anything He has ever done anywhere, He can do here.
Anything He has ever done for anyone, He can do for you."

Would Sarah have said that? Maybe not at first, but she did grow to believe God could. After the doubt, came a time of reflection, and a realization that God was able.

Later we read:
Sarah, too, had faith, and because of this she was able to become a mother in spite of her old age, for she realized that God, who gave her his promise, would certainly do what he said.  Heb 11:11 (Living)

Friends, I'm writing this to you today to tell you that God has not changed.

But some of us need to.

Embrace the idea that God loves you, and that He can do whatever He needs to do to help you see that.

He can lift you when you are weak.
He can still your heart when you are fearful.
He can demonstrate His power anyway He chooses.

 

He can do that in your life, in the life of those around you, in your community, in a church.

 

Is anything too hard for the Lord?

 

I doubt it. ;)

 

You probably remember that since our big friend Henley passed away, Monday nights have been "Allan nights" here at the Wilson home.

It's pretty simple stuff.

Bunny cooks normally and we open another place at the table for our friend. He's an interesting guest. To give you an idea about his visits, I'd have to start at about 4PM at church when he shows up to confirm that dinner is on. We leave there about 5:30 and head here. Allan sits in the front seat of the Honda and loves to use the garage door opener. I think doing that alone would be enough for Allan. Bunny and I have our patience tested by that device pretty often, but when Allan tries it always seems to work.

And he explodes in laughter. It's like a kid at Christmas.

We go into the house and Allan is greeted by the Airedales. He reminds them that he loves them. This of course does not slow down their welcoming antics, but then again, maybe it does. Allan then goes and sees Sean (and Chelsea if she's here) and either helps with the last few supper prep tasks or sits and watches ESPN. When we are all called to eat, Allan reminds us where we sit, and helps me say the blessing on our meal.

It's at that point he usually praises Bunny's cooking. Everything seems either to be "my favorite" or "this is the best I have ever had." We'll have some challenging conversation as we eat, given Allan's hearing issues and frequent changes of subject. Then pretty suddenly he'll be through. If we all are, he'll help clear the table. Bunny will ask if he wants some to take home, which he always does. He thanks us again and we head to the garage where the door opener awaits.

Now he gets to open AND close the garage. Just as we came in laughing, we leave the same way.

Not a bad way to start off the week. :)

Let us know if you'd ever like to experience the joys of our Monday nights. Our home is always open to our friends and neighbors. Who knows - play your cards right, and I might even let YOU open the garage door.

Grace and peace,

David