No shame, imagined

Wearing a cross: shame redeemed?

I cling to pride even though I never would have thought myself very prideful.

Shame is pride’s offspring.  We know we are proud whenever we feel shame. Shame cannot exist without pride.

Was reading Psalm 26 by David when the phrase in the NIV “be put to shame” caught my attention.  I was particularly struck by verse 3 when David claims:

““No one who hopes in you (God) will ever be put to shame” ”

— Psalm 25:3a, NIV

Ever?  As in never?

What about verse 2 when David wrote, “To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul; in you I trust, O my God. Do not let me be put to shame, nor let my enemies triumph over me?” (Psalm 25:2)“

Is David wishy-washy or is he simply admonishing himself to always resolve to trust in the Lord so that, among other benefits, he will not be put to shame?  He concludes the Psalm with another reminder:

““Guard my life and rescue me; let me not be put to shame, for I take refuge in you.” ”

— Psalm 25:20

I relate to David’s struggle. I revere God too but sometimes shame weighs heavy on me.

While David had much to be proud about - warrior, hero, musician, king, author, he is also open about his weakness and sinfulness.  Note verses 7 and 11 where he asks to be judged by God’s character not his own.   Really proud people would rarely say anything like that.

BibleGateway produced 147 uses of the word “shame” in the NIV including 52 variations on the phrase “put to shame.”  While the very first mention occurs before the first sin, when “Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame” (Genesis 2:25), most of those mentions regard the shame of those who have little or no regard for God.

How long will you people turn my glory into shame? How long will you love delusions and seek false gods? (Psalm 4:2)

Even a cursory study of shame in the Bible clearly shows shame presented as a primary  language and manner of the world.  

“Are they ashamed of their detestable conduct? No, they have no shame at all; they do not even know how to blush.

To answer before listening— that is folly and shame. ”

— Jeremiah 6:15a and Proverbs 18:13

Modern life holds this to be as true as ever.  In stark contrast is God’s assurance as echoed above by David and elsewhere:

““As Scripture says, ‘Anyone who believes in him (the Lord) will never be put to shame.”’ ”

— Romans 10:11 referencing Isaiah 28:16

Never?  Imagine never experiencing shame, especially in 2017?

Here’s another never to bank on - that God doesn’t leave us to depend on imagining what never/ever experiencing shame looks like.  In answer, he sent his son Jesus to model life that drew completely from God and completely disregarded every other influence. (See Philippians 2:7, ESV)

Every person and being who came against Jesus failed to put him to shame.  Jesus’ ultimate triumph over shame was when...

“For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

— Hebrews 12:2, NIV

While the cross was for a moment in history associated with one of the most diabolical execution methods ever conceived by humanity, today it is a symbol of redemption, not to mention an adornment,.

Imagine forsaking pride and never again suffering shame?  Imagine drawing life only from the Lord and giving no other person or being or idea a foothold for pride or shame to take root?

Thanks to Jesus, we don’t have to imagine.

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Image source: wearing a cross

Passion Week Tribute to Rufus and my Parents

Station V of the Stations of the Cross

While meandering along the roads of life, anything can happen to instantly change everything.  In honor of Passion Week, I offer this story about such a thing happening to a man named Simon whose son, Rufus became a small part of my story of faith.

A couple thousand years ago while traveling along a Jerusalem road during Passover week, Simon from Cyrene found himself unexpectedly enveloped by a raucous crowd. Perhaps as he strained to get a look at what all the commotion was about, he was noticed by a Roman soldier who pressed him into an unwanted duty – to help the condemned man the crowd was following to carry the cross upon which he would soon be crucified. 

That moment catapulted Simon from Cyrene from obscurity because that condemned man he unwittingly helped was Jesus Christ.

Simon from Cyrene is mentioned in three of the four gospel accounts of Jesus’ road to Calvary. His role is memorialized in the fifth of the 14 stations of the cross that adorn most Catholic churches. A great depiction of Simon’s service was captured in Mel Gibson’s movie “The Passion of the Christ.”

The account in Mark notes that Simon is the father of Alexander and Rufus who Christian scholars believe were known in Rome where Mark wrote his gospel. In his letter to the Romans, Paul thanks a man named Rufus and his mother for their support of him (Romans 16:13).  Many scholars say this Rufus is Simon from Cyrene’s son.

Rufus became part of my story when my parents urged me to take his name for receiving the sacrament of Confirmation in 1967. Catholic parents often choose first and/or middle names for their children after the names of canonized saints or people in the Bible, like Joshua or David or Matthew.  My brothers have middle names like Patrick and Daniel.  Then these saintly/Biblical names are also reused for their Confirmation name.

My first and middle names are Glenn Roy. Glenn was a favorite name of my mom and Roy is my dad’s first name.  However when it came to choosing a name for my Confirmation, we knew of no Glenn's or Roy's in the Bible or among saints.  However, my parents claimed that Rufus was an origin for the name Roy.  Despite that Rufus was not a cool-sounding name to me, I let my parents talk me into using it for my Confirmation name.

While taking on a Confirmation name is a significant marker of taking a major step in faith, I didn’t actually receive Christ as my Lord and Savior until many years later. Nevertheless, I participated in the Confirmation ceremony with the name “Rufus.”

I vividly recall regretting the choice during the ceremony. When my turn came, I knelt before the bishop who laid his hand on my head and loudly declared me “Rufus!” I imagined everyone looking oddly in my direction at the unusual name I’d chosen.  Confirmation is often a memorable ceremony for young Catholics.  However, all I really remember was the Rufus part – being embarrassed to be connected with that name.

I feel differently now.  Today, I am a Christian and know about this Rufus, son of Simon who helped Jesus with his cross.  If I could redo that ceremony, I would be honored to claim the name of Rufus.

Also, I hold a special place in my heart for my parents’ role in my choice thanks to perspective and that I have since become a believer.  This part of the story greatly increases my love for my parents and for God who knew I would come to him long before I did.

Interesting how for both me and Rufus, our parents factored significantly in our stories of faith. Possibly, Rufus and his brother were there when their dad carried Jesus’ cross.

When I first took the name of Rufus for my Confirmation, it signified little more than embarrassment and possible parental conspiracy.  But it has since emerged to take on a significance well beyond what my parents probably hoped to achieve - me taking a next small step in my faith.

As a parent now, I pray that one or two of the little things I’ve done to nurture faith in my own children blossom in a similar manner.

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Notes:

1)  This post is an edited version of a Road Report entitled “My Rufus Story: Hope for Conspiring Parents” posted September 3, 2012 at FarmingtonGlenn.net

2) Gospel mentions of Simon from Cyrene in BibleGateway: Matthew 27:32, Mark 15:21 and Luke 23:26

3) 14 Stations of the Cross

1. Jesus Is Condemned To Death
2. Jesus Is Made To Carry His Cross
3. Jesus Falls The First Time
4. Jesus Meets His Sorrowful Mother
5. Simon Of Cyrene Helps Jesus Carry His Cross***
6. Veronica Wipes The Face Of Jesus
7. Jesus Falls The Second Time
8. The Women Of Jerusalem Weep Over Jesus
9. Jesus Falls The Third Time
10. Jesus Is Stripped Of His Garments
11. Jesus Is Nailed To The Cross
12. Jesus Is Raised Upon The Cross And Dies
13. Jesus Taken Down From The Cross And Placed In The Arms Of His Mother
14. Jesus Is Laid In The Sepulcher

4) Here is an article about Simon from Cyrene.  It offers some interesting conjecture about this man – maybe a Jewish convert or a Gentile, maybe a black man, and whose his wife and sons were well-known in the Christian church in Rome.

5)  The seven sacraments of the Roman Catholic Church: 1. Baptism (Birth); 2. Confirmation (Adulthood); 3. Eucharist (“Communion”), 4. Penance (Reconciliation); 5. Matrimony (Marriage); 6. Holy Orders (Priesthood); 7. Extreme Unction (Sickness, Death).

Growing Underneath

Aspens in Colorado

Have you seen the recent story about the earth’s biggest living thing?  According to Public Radio International,

“The largest organism on Earth probably isn't a whale or a giant octopus or anything else you might naturally think of first. It's a tree — or a group of genetically identical trees that stretches across more than 100 acres of Utah's Fishlake National Forest.” 

Aspen trees, specifically. The U.S. Forest Service calls the massive, “single-tree” aspen grove “Pando,” Latin for “I spread.”

Found coast to coast across North America, aspens grow in groups called stands. Within these stands, a single tree will spread by sprouting new stems from its roots that either sprout into new trees or live underground, sharing nutrients with each other for a long time.

Aspens are a favorite of my wife, Cindy. She likes how the leaves "waver" in the wind due to their triangular-shaped stems. An Our Daily Bread devotional we read together last week offered another aspen feature - how their underground root system plays a vital, re-foresting role after a natural disaster.  

Apparently, aspen root systems sleep underground for hundreds, even thousands of years, whether or not they produce trees.  After a fire, flood, or avalanche clears a space for them in the otherwise shady forest, aspen roots can sense the sun at last, sending up saplings that become trees.

“Just as natural disaster clears a forest to make new aspen growth possible, our growth in faith is also made possible by difficulties,” wrote ODB contributor Amy Peterson. 

“Consider it pure joy whenever you face trials of many kinds,” wrote the apostle James, “because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” (James 1:2–4).                 

According to James, not lacking anything is what a mature and complete faith looks. That’s problematic for me.  While I can claim occasional moments of not lacking anything, I generally lack something that I want or convinced myself I need.

Pride is my struggle.  As a guy, I want to support my family and be competent and capable in my responsibilities especially in my work/career. Unable to secure or retain positions that sync with my competencies, I've accepted other work where I struggle through learning processes that inevitably include embarrassing rookie mistakes.

Each new position presents a new learning curve to work through.  I try to handle the inevitable rookie errors with grace but often I'm shrinking inside, my self-confidence taking another hit. Are these tests of my faith, of God coaxing me, ever reluctantly, to trust more in him and less in myself?

While I do find being a rookie again for the sixteenth time in nine years a little frustrating, I am better about not letting the next mistake "get to me" or define me.  As I gradually learn new duties, I remind myself to thank the Lord for another opportunity to “let perseverance finish its work” in me. 

Like the aspen roots grow underground for a chance to re-forest a devastated region in the distant future, God allows and uses devastation in our lives for his own, re-foresting-type purpose.

Jesus himself established this "organism" that he invited me into, where my maturing faith feeds yours and ours melds with other believers.  Collectively, we are "growing underneath" but seen and approved by God, nurtured into a formidable, reckoning force .

“upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”

— Jesus, Matthew 16:18b, KJV

We are what St. Paul metaphorically called “the body of Christ.”

“Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church...to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ ”

— Ephesians 4:11, NLT

May I suggest that the largest organism on Earth isn’t a tree after all?

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Notes:

1) Pando story

2) Our Daily Bread, 2/29/2017

Sinking at Lent?

Jesus rescuing Peter

Hearkening to my Catholic roots, I observe Lent most years.  March 24 marked Lent’s halfway point with 20 days of observance ahead before Easter (23 calendar days).

O.K. so I’ve taken my eyes off Jesus with regard to my Lent resolutions.  At the halfway point, I’m essentially like Peter in Matthew’s account of Jesus walking on water - sinking!

That’s the story our pastor chose to open our monthly church board meeting last week, from Matthew 14:22-32. The disciples ran into a storm while crossing the Sea of Galilee when Jesus approached their boat, walking on the water.  Peter asks the Lord to command him to come, also atop the raging sea. When Jesus agrees, Peter climbs from the boat and heads Jesus’ way.

““But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, ‘Lord, save me!’” (v 30)”

Our conversation generally regarded how Peter sank when he allowed the storm all around and underfoot to draw his attention away from Jesus. Hard not to empathize with Peter because we do that too in our own lives as believers.  

Me? I’m not bold like Peter.  Pretty sure I would have remained in the boat, I am most drawn to how Jesus rescued Peter as he sank.

““Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him.” (v 31a)”

“Immediately,” sounds good to me, as in without hesitation or any qualifying questions or cross examination. Sure, Jesus chided Peter for doubting but only after he rescued him.  

Rescue first, lesson later.  That’s God’s pattern.  Generally, if not always, God leads, initiates, calls something into being, invites, appears, reveals, or rescues before making any requests or demands or commands.  

No problem finding other stories like this in the Bible - Adam, Abraham, Job, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, David, Elijah, Jonah, and on into Jesus’ time with Peter, Zacchaeus, and Paul.  Invariably, God establishes himself with whoever he draws into his story before he makes his “requirements” known - to honor, respect and acknowledge him.

Too often we anchor faith on what we do while the key to faith is what God does before he asks us to do anything.  Painstakingly, patiently God is showing me how my doing is actually responding to him, his presence, what he has done for me - drawing, restoring, redeeming.

At the board meeting, fellow Elders offered several thoughts about how walking the often rough waters of life while keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus plays out practically. Someone offered that  Jesus often counsels us to relax, be quick to repent, and to not be so hard on ourselves.  Didn’t he also readily acknowledge that we would have trouble in this life but to take heart because he has overcome the world?  (see Matthew 11: 28-30; John 3:17 and 16:33)

For the balance of Lent, I’m taking Peter’s lead, following him out of the boat, challenging myself to do better in the next 20 days before Easter. Not so much to satisfy a Lenten duty or requirement for holy living or prove anything to myself but in response to what the Lord has done for me and to honor who he is.

I’m not planning to falter but if I do, I am assured that Jesus’ hand will be there to rescue me.

Back to even

               Hanley Lake sunrise - back to even

Just after punching in at the hardware store, my boss beckoned me over for a “Key Academy” refresher lesson.  “Customers returned ten of your keys for re-dos,” he explained.

In nearly six months working there, I’ve cut a lot of keys and thought I was doing well. Although he was not the least critical but patient in reviewing key-cutting basics with me, I felt a little down about it. As I headed out to the sales floor, I prayed briefly along the line of James 1:4 “Let perseverance finish its work….” (NIV)

Back to even

A family party conversation turns to praises for life and work achievements of siblings, children, grandchildren and people present.  “Someone” loves to use these work identity conversations to re-ignite my self-doubts. Hours later, unable to pull out of the sadness, I find a verse to remind me Whose I am.  “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they ("I") may have life and have it abundantly."  (John 10:10)

Back to even

With two other couples, Cindy and I help set up a room for a reception that weekend. After the work is done, we hang out with these friends, three pairs of catching-up conversations. My conversation with Robin about writing and life and how God’s leading is so real and refreshing.

Back to even

Two responses to two inquiries about how and what I’m doing now that I want to re-do. Despite having pre-thought and even written draft responses, I answered weakly both times. All I can do now is pray. “Lord, transform my feeble words into a life-giving word by the power of your Holy Spirit" (Romans 8:26, ESV)

Back to even

At the reception, I reconnect with Susan and learn about her own career search. “Difficult,” she admitted but she just found something new after a year of little promise. Then she recounted times in the new job when she appealed God to show up to overcome a seeming dead-end - and how he always did.

Back to even

Disclosing my struggles and faltering with the guys at Saturday morning prayer lead to reflecting about the kind of joy Jesus had in mind to endure the cross so we would not grow weary and lose heart. (See Hebrews 12:1-3, ESV)

Back to even

Judges 2 covers Joshua’s death and foresees the next phase of Israel’s shaky history with God. Here in the “promised land” that God delivered to them, Israel will initially honor him and prosper.  Then gradually they forget his redemptive role. Cozying up with their neighbors, they set God aside who let them drift into deep trouble.

At their bottom is where they “remember” God and beg for rescue. The only reason God ever gives for why he listens is simply to assert who he is, “I AM.”  He raises a rescuer (judge) who delivers them.  And then Israel repeats their weary cycle.

Judges 2 is a snapshot of the entire Old Testament and also of my life as a one who claims to also believe and follow God. A casual reader might wonder why a story like Israel’s or mine would be written or read. For that matter, who would write such a story?

Knowing that God would write such a story and did makes me smile.  What first appears as a miserably repeating cycle of human failure is really God’s own story as he tells it, as Creator and Redeemer.

Only by the grace of the most gracious Author of life am I in the story at all. "You did not choose me, but I chose you..." (John 15:16a, NIV)

Back to even

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Notes:

A great post along this line: God, Are You Enough? - Melissa Taylor, 5/31/2013

I abide, God provides

Firewood yield from unexpected tree-trimmer visit

I just happened to be home when a company contracted by our electricity provider pulled up to trim trees growing under electrical wires running along the back of our property.

“Would you mind leaving larger hardwood branches behind for our firewood?” I asked one of the crew members.

And just like that, my dwindling firewood reserve was replenished!  Several large branches trimmed from two large trees in ours and our neighbor’s yards produced two-plus face cords of hardwood.  Like ‘wood manna’ from above!

The sense of God providing rose in me as I marveled at the daring worker climbing high into the branches of our towering silver maple. After strategically fastening ropes to secure his safety harness, he tied off one of the large branches for safe cutting and transport to the ground with help from his crew below.

We burn wood for enjoyment, so God’s provision in this case was more along the line of fulfilling a desire of my heart.  (See Psalm 37:4, NASB).  Nevertheless, a caption popped into my mind for this moment, “I abide, God provides.”

Abide, as from John 15 where Jesus tapped into the agricultural mindset of his followers to paint a picture of how God’s kingdom operates.

Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. (John 15:4, NASB)

A few sentences later, Jesus describes the destiny of cut off, no longer abiding branches - thrown aside to dry, be gathered and burned.  Except here I will gleefully re-purpose these dead branches for fire fuel to warm our home on a winter evening in the future.

No feature of creation is beyond the reach of our all-providing God, even death.  A fire’s ashes rejoin earth’s humus to spawn new plants and trees.  Jesus restored Lazarus to life after four days in the tomb and shortly after Jesus shared his abide principle, his own death would achieve the ultimate, providing event of all time - restored relationship with God!

Note the order and roles.  1) I abide. 2) God provides.

In 2011, I themed a Christmas ornament with this same “abide” message.  God has since worked abiding into my life. After drawing me through a season of waiting and learning to trust more in him, a “next phase” opened where I saw possibilities in developments I never would have considered before. I am still in that phase now, more accepting, even appreciative that the ways forward don’t often unfold as I plan or envision.

Linking my abiding with God providing also presumes that failing to abide dims my sense of God’s nearness.  “Abide-failure” tends to cause pride and urgency toward self-preservation to rear up in me. Counseled Jesus, “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” (Matthew 6:33, NIV)

“These things” include anything we ask God to provide. (See Matthew 6: 28-32, NIV).

Seeking and abiding is not standing still.  God’s first work for humanity was to tend creation as his image-bearers.  Working, serving and tending is often where God shows us new possibilities.

In God’s provision is also a caution not to allow our abide to descend to pride, especially when life is going well.  Unless I’m missing something, the Bible only sparsely connects our efforts with God’s provision.  More frequent is how poorly most of us handle bounty.

Abide elevates our thankfulness to the Lord whereas pride turns us inward, attributing provision more to our own efforts, intelligence, entitlement and ingenuity than to God’s shaping of situations that yield benefit for us.  Think about some of your greatest achievements and honestly consider how much you can truly attribute to yourself after discounting for other contributing factors over which you had little or no control.

Honestly acknowledging our lack of control over most of life can sink us to anxiety or draw us to giving Jesus’ abide invitation a try.  Abiding prepares us to recognize and give thanks when the “Provide” trucks arrive unexpectedly to replenish our firewood reserve!

Give thanks to the Lord, because he is good. His faithful love continues forever. (Psalm 136:1, NIRV)

See: 2011 "Abide in me" ornament

Witness against yourself?

Something about my manner caused a new co-worker to suspect I was a believer. After determining that I was, he explained mentioning to his wife after his first day at work, “There’s something about Glenn that makes me think he’s a believer.”

While I’m certainly not guarded with people about my Christian faith, I also don’t feel lead to advertise I follow Christ.  Still, when my co-worker asked if I was “saved,” I responded without hesitation.

“Yes indeed, a sinner saved by grace,” I answered, offering my hand.

“Amen brother,” he replied as we warmly shook hands.

To be known as a Christian can be both affirming and sobering – affirming when our manner honors our Lord but when our conduct or attitude falls short of how a Christian is “supposed” to be, our faith claim essentially witnesses against us.

Near the end of the book of Joshua, the people of Israel tried to convince Joshua they will carry on fine after he was gone.  During his farewell speech, Joshua recounted how God made good to the people of Israel by bringing them to the land he promised to give them.  Then Joshua reminded everyone that God would not tolerate any unfaithfulness.  While the people insisted they would remain faithful to God, Joshua answered,

““You are not able to serve the Lord,” he cautioned. “He is a holy God; he is a jealous God….If you forsake the Lord and serve foreign gods, he will … bring disaster on you…” ”

— Joshua 24:19, NIV

Joshua had good reason to doubt his fellow Israelites.  After all, he was one of only two of those rescued from Egypt allowed to enter the promised land. All the rest of his contemporaries, except Caleb, died in the desert because they doubted the Lord.  Joshua’s audience now were the doubters’ children who insisted they would succeed where their parents failed.  Unconvinced, Joshua warned,

““You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen to serve the Lord.’” ”

— Joshua 24:22, NIV

Did he really say they were ‘witnesses against themselves?’ Doesn’t the Lord want his people to openly proclaim allegiance to him?

If we walk our talk, then yes.  But we tend to fall short.  O.K. we always fall short.

Of course God knows that Israel will mess up even though he is pulling for them not to. Since we read this story as history, we too know they failed, lost the promised land and were carried into exile by their enemies.

Fortunately, God’s plan wasn’t dependent on his chosen people holding up their end.  Back up a few sentences and note that Joshua’s prefaces the warnings part of his message by recounting what the Lord has already done for Israel in spite of their mess-ups!

“Speaking through Moses, God notes, “I gave you a land on which you did not toil and cities you did not build; and you live in them and eat from vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant.” ”

— Joshua 24:13, NIV

Get that Israel received a promised land not of their own making not because they were good, but because God was.  Same with us.  Just as God gave his committed, though faltering, chosen people cities they didn’t build and food they didn’t grow, he can and does make things happen in our lives that are in no way attributed to our own efforts.  Why? Because he has a plan for people who follow him as their Lord that somehow works out for their (our) good AND his glory.

Our pledge of allegiance to the Lord may, on one hand, be a witness against when we falter in our faith despite that we intend to be faithful.  But because we are aligned with the only One able to make all our wrongs right, God’s plan works out for us. (See Romans 8:28)

While claiming to belong to the Lord puts us at risk of essentially witnessing against ourselves, in our faltering and dealing with repercussions failure often involves, we often reset with God who restores us and urges us to resume the work he has for us to do.

Seems a little backward, right? Welcome to the Kingdom of God.

Amazing how God has all this figured out down to the most intricate detail.  Do we really matter to him THAT MUCH?

May I Never Tire of This

My morning spot at Laura's place

Here I am again.  A new morning, pre-dawn, hot cup of coffee, journal, Bible, laptop…

This morning finds me in a guest spot specifically set up by our daughter, Laura at her house for me –  because I do this.  Because I’ve being doing this for years and years and everyone I know knows I do this, especially anyone who has ever put me up for a night.

May I never tire of it.

This morning I pray for Laura and her husband Michael along the line of these verses I selected for them….

The righteous will flourish like a palm tree,
they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon;
planted in the house of the Lord,
they will flourish in the courts of our God. (Psalm 92: 12-13, NIV)

Later we will visit a church they want to check out.  I pray they find a “house of the Lord” to root into, belong to, flourish with. Perhaps a family church like Grace Chapel where Cindy and I belong and where Laura particularly synced with the Lord during middle school where dear friends Tony and Heidi Cece lead “Breakaway,” our middle-school ministry then?

Cindy and I are still firmly rooted there, like a palm tree, like the cedars of Lebanon. May we never tire of Grace Chapel. Sundays there are the high point of every week along with other Grace Chapel moments between Sundays.

I flipped back through my journal to revisit what the Lord spoke to me about last week. God always has a lot to say and this week, I captured several thoughts in my journal…..

• Friday – An impression I drew from God’s declaration about Israel in Isaiah 22:14, “Till your dying day this sin will not be atoned for,” after which I jotted, “then Jesus came and did it.”
• Thursday – Notes that fed into a message to a Facebook friend about a quote he shared from Bruce Springsteen’s new autobiography, Born to Run.  While Springsteen credits family, faith, work and being Italian as under-girding his life and work, he’s a self-avowed agnostic so maybe faith isn’t so much a factor even though God’s grace is essential for him or any of us to endure and triumph. However, when God gets no credit, personal toil and dogged determination takes most of the bows.
• Wednesday – “Everyone Invited” is how I titled notes for 1 Timothy 4:10 “we put our hope in the living God who is the Savior of all men, especially of those who believe” – more layers for a thought theme developing in me.  I agree to the “all” but how does it fit with election? Lately I arrive at God sovereignly knowing how we choose. Return to this later.
• Tuesday – Notes from pastor Doug’s Sunday message from 1 John 2: 3-11 that I titled “Obedience/love litmus test.  I underlined “if you know, you show” than jotted James 2: 14-26 in the margin.  Well done, Doug.  Again.

Another week of listening and drawing near to God. May I never tire of this.

Road Report rose directly from the fertile soil of this field I pray I never tire of – intentional time each morning with the Lord.  Expressions I’ve shared out of this hour over the years – poems, prayers, ornaments, articles, essays, and letters prompted some recipients to encourage I try my hand at blogging.

Friends Todd Waller and Dan Rose set me up and I launched in April 2012 with more than a little trepidation about whether I could consistently generate content.  Turns out content isn’t a problem but finding time to write and then getting myself out there is.

I’ve continuously written something somewhere since I was 15.  Although I have shared some writing and other creative work over the years, Road Report is the first attempt to put ideas out that are accessible to anyone.  Even so, faithful readers are few so Road Report is presently more like playing guitar in a room with the door open.  Visitors are welcome but most don’t stop by for a listen.

Faithful Road Report followers, thanks for looking in each week.  For now, it’s just us few and the Lord, a kind of message practice perhaps?

     I wait for the Lord
more than watchmen wait for the morning,
more than watchmen wait for the morning. (Psalm 130:6, NIV)

May I never tire of this.

Dual Citizenship Dilemma?

Image source: Preacher Study Blog

Despite that I devote little attention to news and political matters, I’ve ventured into a few social media exchanges during the just-concluded presidential campaign and since President Trump took office. I’ve also deleted or edited some comments here and there that didn’t feel right later on.

Immigration is one of those issues on everyone’s radar.  For all the problems in America, plenty of people desire to live in the freedom that United States citizenship affords.

Freedom of speech may be one of the most valued freedom American citizens enjoy.  While America allows expression with minimal risk of repercussion, freedom of speech can easily get us into serious trouble with anyone in the range of our voice especially when our speaking platform is social media.

As someone who writes into this media, I know firsthand that some of the views expressed here have riled up a few people.  My intention with Road Report is draw from personal experiences to share what I hear God is saying in and through me.

I am grateful to be able to share my perspective this way thanks to the freedom afforded me as a citizen of the United States of America. However, by drawing God into the center of these messages, my citizenship in his kingdom is also very much in play.  Lately I notice more contention between these kingdoms of my dual citizenship.

Perhaps the dilemma is due to that the manner and conduct of the kingdom of God is often not in concert with the manner and conduct of the kingdom of America that is part of the greater kingdom of the world. Read Jesus’ beatitudes to see how people of God’s kingdom are.

Besides the beatitudes, the Bible has much to say about this dual citizenship believers in God and Christ.  Here’s how St. Peter frames this dilemma believers face:

“Dear friends, I warn you as “temporary residents and foreigners” to keep away from worldly desires that wage war against your very souls. ”

— 1 Peter 2: 11, NLT

Jesus claimed to be king of a kingdom not of this world. (see John 18:36, NIV).  People gain citizenship in the kingdom of God when they are “born again” – adopted into a new family and citizenship that is ruled by God.

It sounds simple enough but unlike towns and neighborhoods where we live out our mortal lives, God’s kingdom is invisible and we Christians have no visual features or language that readily identifies us as “temporary residents and foreigners.” So how should Christians approach this dual citizenship?

Peter continues with some practical guidance: Be careful to live properly among your unbelieving neighbors. Then even if they accuse you of doing wrong, they will see your honorable behavior, and they will give honor to God when he judges the world. (1 Peter 2: 11b-12, NLT)

1. keep away from worldly desires that wage war against your very soul (v11b)
2. live properly among unbelieving neighbors (v12a)
3. behavior honorably (v12b)
4. don’t judge (v12c)

The big question regards whether our citizenship in God’s kingdom is as noticeable as (say) an immigrant’s native accent reflects his/her Spanish-ness or Middle Eastern-ness or Asian-ness? What should an accent resonating the kingdom of God sound like?

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Notes

1. Referring to believers as “temporary residents” is noted elsewhere in Scripture (such as Genesis 23:4, Leviticus 25:23, Philippians 3:20 and Hebrews 11:13).  (Biblegateway link in NIV)
2. What does ‘Born Again Christian’ mean?

When All the Saying is Said – Cling

(Reviewing Road Reports archives, I came across this post of 8/13/2013. Three-plus years later, it still hits the spot so share it again along with a few tweaks learned since then…)

        "Forgiven" by Thomas Blackshear

We were in our 30’s when some of the guys in our family started an annual“Boys” winter weekend in northern Michigan. Now the oldest of us are in our 60’s.  

During those weekends when we were younger, we imagined what the years we are now living might look like, something like:

• careers on cruise control
• money for retirement
• children grown and on their way
• plans for our senior years nearly complete

Things didn’t play out like that for me. As I was turning in my mid-50’s toward a last push of accumulating for retirement, my life ship hit an iceberg.  I didn’t sink but a lot of our cargo jettisoned into the cold, dark waters called “Detour! Change of plans.”  As I tread water to keep my face on the air side, my faith in Christ became a lifesaver.  A Bible story that resonated with me was Job.

The premise of the story is disturbing – a debate between Satan and God that turns into a bet, like roulette.  After God singles Job out as a righteous man, Satan protests that Job’s faithfulness is all due to the favor God has bestowed on him – prosperity, health, family, and status.

Retorted Satan, ”But (if you) reach out and take away everything he has, he will surely curse you to your face!” (Job 1:11, NLT)

So God permits Satan to stack the deck against Job by devastating his livelihood, family and health.  Then God puts all his chips on Job and spins the wheel.

The rest of the story is a series of monologues by Job reacting to his plight and by three of his friends who weighed in with their own views about Job’s situation.

Some friends, right?  They lead off well with comfort and empathy but soon get frustrated as Job’s situation drags on.  Their monologues bounce between offering hollow answers and blaming Job for bringing this plight upon himself.

In my early readings of Job, I used to camp on Job’s speeches more than of his friends. Knowing how God favored Job at the beginning of the story, I surmised that Job’s discourse would be the most right on. Also, I KNEW the other guys’ reasoning about what caused Job’s plight was off.  

Now I realize Job didn’t have the corner on wise speak. In each man’s reasoning is shades of truth, speculation and error.  In these discourses I was reminded that we all sin, all fall short and that none of us can make much sense of life sometimes.  

Although God attributed righteousness to Job, his friends also followed God even though their judgment about Job’s plight were completely off base.  In the end, they each admitted their error by dutifully paying the penance God demanded of them.  

I see my own story in Job’s.  A detour interrupted my plan and as I dealt with it, I groped for answers that don’t exist.  In Job’s story, we see a victim dealing with trial while he and his friends conjecture about what happened..

When all the saying is said, Job clings to God so God wins the wager but Job also recovers to a new normal. Best of all, Job’s relationship with and awe of God moves to a more enlightened and practical place.

Clearly Job’s “rightness” with God is more about God than Job.  Because God had Job, Job had God. Don’t you love the end of the story when Job realized he only needed God, not God’s answers?

““I had only heard about you before,
but now I have seen you with my own eyes.
I take back everything I said,
and I sit in dust and ashes to show my repentance.” ”

— Job 42:5-6, NLT

Trial has a way of helping us to really “see” the God we only heard about before, and to truly get that God is always for us and never against us.  When we respond by aligning with God, we win and the next detour is a little easier to navigate.

Job’s story illustrates this principle well.  I hope my story does that too.

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Here’s a good book offering insights from the experiences of the prophet Elijah: “I didn’t sign up for this” by Aaron Sharp

Messianic Merchandiser

Section 4 of 16 at Bronner’s CHRISTmas Wonderland in Frankenmuth, MI

Even though we generally take Christmas down on New Year’s day, I am often reluctant to leave the  Christmas mode.  This year, we decided to extend Christmas with an outing to Bronner’s Christmas store in Frankenmuth, Michigan during the week between Christmas and New Years.

Established by Wally Bronner in 1945, Bronner’s is ayear-round Christmas store.  An American success story, Bronner started modestly than steadily grew to a mega-successful enterprise touted as the world’s largest Christmas store, drawing over 2 million visitors annually to the Frankenmuth area.

Bronner’s opened its current 320,000 square foot store in 1977

Our primary intent was to enjoy a Christmas outing together but I was also on the lookout for an angel figurine for our outside Christmas decorations. My inspiration is two grapevine angel figures that are part of our church’s Christmas display.  My idea is to buy or make a similar angel and wrap it with lights to herald the Savior during both day and night-time.

Angels like this at Grace Chapel Church

Not only does Bronner’s offer an extensive array of Christmas merchandise, it also designs and manufactures Christmas materials, displays and ornaments. As a Christmas ornament-hobbyist, I am particularly drawn to Christmas ornaments in general and gospel-themed ornaments in particular.

Notably Wally Bronner, a devout believer in Christ, pulled off a merchandising miracle to achieve mega commercial success with Bronner’s while also keeping Christ front and center in his prolific advertising and throughout the store itself.  Greeting visitors near each store entrance is a prominent wall sign picturing Santa Claus kneeling at Jesus’ manger captioned with the “at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow” Philippians 2:10.

Wall sign near Bronner’s entrance

While Bronner’s commitment to the Lord inspires, his commercial success is most due to keying on customer’s desires for celebrating Christmas.  Christmas today is most about what each celebrating family decides to make Christmas most about.  

Credit Bronner for zeroing so effectively on the “most abouts” of its vast customer base. Shoppers with no interest whatsoever in the messianic “back story” of Christmas can find everything they need at Bronner’s.  Truly, the business of Christmas can flourish apart from the greater mission the holiday’s namesake came to planet earth to share and do.

While for Wally Bronner, Christmas is most about his Savior, he fashioned a Christmas business that also catered to people preferring a Christmas without Christ.  Not only did he seem O.K. with doing that but he achieved significant commercial success that way.  While Bronner’s both/and approach may seem like a watering down of his faith, I offer him as an exemplary “Messianic Merchandiser.”

I never met the man but its clear to me he viewed Christmas and Christ as inseparable. To promote Christmas in any way is to also promote Christ.  Note the company’s signage and motto since 1977, “BRONNER’S CHRISTmas WONDERLAND.”

His company name merely capitalizes on “Christ” comprising the first six letters of the word, “Christmas.” A coincidence or something else?

Bronner’s brand and motto since 1977

After 63 years at his company’s helm during which he became fondly known as “Mr. Christmas,” Wally Bronner handed the business off to his son Wayne in 1998.  He remained chairman of the company’s board of directors until his death in 2008 at age 81.

I found a few angel candidates at Bronner’s but the ones I liked most were a bit over my budget. I was only mildly surprised to also not find much merchandise with what I would call a “gospel-theme” regarding Jesus’ underlying mission to “seek and save the lost” (Luke 19:10).  “Religious-themed” decorations were generally creche scenes, stars, angels, some bulbs with Bible verses, and a sprinkling of crosses and country church figures.

I did however find something very valuable at Bronner’s – inspiration for living out the gospel in any manner that can draw unbelieving people near to me and other believers. While Christians, like Christmas itself, may not always act or seem Christlike, we and our Savior are in fact inseparable (See Romans 8:38-39).  By virtue of the Holy Spirit dwelling in us, others in our vicinity are susceptible to being exposed to Christ and his life-restoring gospel.

I am no Wally Bronner but his Christlikeness can be an example for me in this new year as I give myself over to the Spirit at work in me in the hope that someone near me may “catch” some of God’s goodness from me.

Notes: History of Bronner’s; Bronner’s store directory

Distress Anecdote — Try This

Malaise, distress, despair – ever have periods like that?

That is where life finds me right now.  I have food, a home, health.  But after 40 years of employment, 3 ½ years of joblessness has me out of sorts, disconnected. Although I am grateful for the generosity of friends and family and temporary jobs here and there, having a regular livelihood is having a stake in community life. Somehow, I lost my stake…

My distress anecdote is Bible reading.  While written thousands of years ago, the Bible reveals life and the world as it is today.  In its pages is the human condition as well as a bit of nature, science and history.  Mostly, it’s God writing to people who believe it him – you and me.  Read to seek Him and you will get what you need for life and what you face.

It’s easy to see why there is so much depression and violence and escapism and preoccupation with death and interest in spirituality (including God).  Life is hard.  If you are not in a little groove of niceness that works for you, it’s pretty difficult to get life going in the right direction, even if what works isn’t very healthy.

But if God is real and if what He promises can be reasonably counted on, well that would be something worth living for even through the godly life is not an easy path.  But it’s a solid and true path in the midst of a very mushy world.

Here are two tips:

1. Pick a plan and get to it. There are plenty of them around.  Look on the internet. (I use the Bible Reading System.)
2. Set reading goals but don’t fret if you miss them, because you will. When you do, just pick back up where you left off.

I’ve been following a daily reading plan for nearly three years. I’ve read the Bible straight through a couple other times but this program holds my interest more. It’s a plan but sequenced in such a way that the chapters read on any given day have no apparent connection to each other.  Read in this manner, I get a strong sense of the continuity of God’s voice and message.  And I am continually amazed at how I see my very life situation reflected in ancient words.

Although my goal is to read 9 chapters a day, some days I only read 2 or 3 or 7 chapters, or none.  I usually take Sundays off from the plan because I devote Sunday to church and what’s going on there. The point is, make it your own.  Read each day then pick up where you left off next time.

The road of life is often bumpy and many sections are shrouded in darkness. Keep your Bible nearby and read it often – daily.  It will light your path.

“Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.”

— Psalm 119: 105, KJV