Home

A couple of years ago I purchased an inexpensive GPS for my car. I have to say that this has been a great investment. Finding a cryptic address or being able to navigate in an unfamiliar city, is great.

Recently Sue and I traveled to the Carmel area in Northern California. As wonderful as the fantastic views of the coastal shoreline were, after a few days there was a longing in our hearts to go home and to sleep in our own familiar bed and eat normal, healthy, home prepared food. The day we got ready to return to Riverside I went out to the car and turned on the GPS. Soon it had acquired the necessary GPS satellites and it was ready to plot a course. I clicked through the menus and came to the list of possible destinations. At the top of the list was that magic word “Home” and I selected and confirmed that entry. The GPS did its thing and in a few moments displayed a map and a route list for the way home. Now, I had not even moved the car a few feet yet but I could almost feel myself sitting in my familiar office chair and imagine how wonderful sleeping in my own bed would be that night. The 400 miles and 7+ hour drive was a mere formality. In one sense I was already enjoying being home. Along the way we got stuck in traffic on a secondary road near the 5 freeway. The road was completely blocked for about 30 minutes due to a bad traffic accident. Eventually we made it home but even with the delay we were not concerned. Home might be delayed a bit but it was still our assured destination.

We have a Home in heaven. Once we have embraced Christ in faith and our course is set, we are bound for Home. There may be some things that come our way while we are on the trip but our arrival at the destination is assured. The events of the day are all just adventures because the destination is already a done deal. My up and down condition, on a given day, does not impact my Heavenly position. Our trip is a process and our destination is the prize. Circumstances no longer need be a heavy weight we must endure. We can relax in peace knowing that we are already at Home and at peace with God.

We have some friends that go through life living under the circumstances. Each change in the wind of circumstances is seen as a setback. These circumstances seemingly gone against them are relived and replayed many times. Friends they talk to must hear the circumstances replayed again and again and hear how only if this circumstance had been different their lives would be so much better. Living life by constantly looking in the rear view mirror is going to mean you miss an awful lot. I formerly lived that way and can speak from experience.

We must seek the adventure of the journey – the call of the Heavenly highway – and focus our hearts on growth, community and caring. We must embrace the possibility that God will reveal himself in our lives when we least expect it.

ISA 40:3-5 “Make the road straight and smooth, a highway fit for our God. Fill in the valleys, level off the hills, Smooth out the ruts, clear out the rocks. Then God’s bright glory will shine and everyone will see it. Yes. Just as God has said.”

A heart of compassion

The story is told of a man who was known for his love of older Cadillac cars. Now the Cadillac was not a trailer queen but his choice as a daily driver. When asked why he liked these big cars so much he explained that he really liked to long nose on the Cadillac because if you do have an accident it was kind of “like hearing about something bad happening in another state – it did not really effect you.”

 Of course, we live in an age where we see suffering and hurting people all around us. Like our Cadillac loving friend, we may try to distance ourselves from problems. We may turn our eyes the other way to suffering or pain because it makes us feel too uncomfortable. We all must deal with it in our own way and I’m told that police and emergency personnel may sometimes make jokes about the tragedies they have seen: “Gallows humor” is what it is called. All these are a way to just help us cope with the suffering that is all around us. Sometimes our families don’t have enough drama in them so we turn on the TV to see suffering in the form of Reality TV.

 I believe that the TV has desensitized us to the suffering of others. As a young man I spent time with the reporters at a large network television station. I worked in the photo lab. Before the day of video tape, the film processing lab was the focal point of the incoming news footage for the evening news. Reporters often gathered there while their film was going through the development process and compared notes on the tragedies they had witnessed that day. Yes, there was an occasional “feel good” story but there were not the meat and potatoes of news coverage. News by its nature tends to feed on suffering. A tragic plane crash, a shooting or a hostage situation is the kind of news that results in awards and the potential for increased ratings. The problem with TV is that the dividing lines between reality and fiction often become blurred. When the director yells “Cut” the actors that were seemingly injured or dead get up and take a coffee break. Unfortunately, this fictional world of television is displayed side by side with the non-fictional news and documentaries. We see the injured or dead and forget that there is no director to yell, “Cut”. The hurting person may not get up again without help and may never get up at all. Also, the hurting person usually has a circle of loved ones that are likewise hurting and suffering due to their loss.

 The Southern California freeway I commute on is very busy and it was not unusual to see a bad traffic accident. I have to admit, that like many others, I would slow down to survey the accident scene. Unfortunately, my interest was more on a clinical level. I was looking to see if I could figure out what had happened and how the cars were damaged. Of late, I have changed my approach and I now try to look and have compassion for the people involved. If you look closely you can often see a person with their head in their hands or someone anxiously pacing back and forth trying to gather their thoughts and figure out what just happened. They may be standing next to a law enforcement officer explaining what happened in those few seconds right before crash. In the coming weeks they will have to replay the decisions they made in a moment and retell and justify their actions to themselves and to others, many times. There will be forms to file and questions to be answered keeping the painful event fresh in their minds. I recalled a hit and run accident I was a victim of with two others and that I could not sleep well for some time because when I closed my eyes the accident would be replaying in my mind. It was almost like on the inside of my eyelids the movie would be replayed again and again. Unlike the friends that were with me that day, I escaped physical injury but the flashbacks went on for some time. If these folks standing beside the road were like me, they may be asking themselves if they were somehow to blame or if they could have done more to prevent the accident. They may be wondering, like I did, if a person they saw injured and taken away in an ambulance would recover or even survive.    

 As I began to think about how I had been impacted, I changed my own thoughts and tried to put myself in that person’s shoes and to pray for them from that spot of standing by them as their friend. It really helped me to begin to have compassion and be concerned for them even though they are a complete stranger that I would likely never meet or get to know. Jesus gave us the model – he viewed others as a friend even though he had known them for only a few moments.   

 ^{LK 5:20} When Jesus saw their faith, he said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven.”

 This has helped me mentally to shift gears into better identifying with others and their needs and suffering. Ask God to give you a heart of compassion for other’s suffering. This is a prayer He will gladly answer…

The Buffalo and The Butterfly

In 1992 in his book the “Language of Love” Gary Smalley outlined the differences between men and women and used an unusual illustration. He contrasted a buffalo and butterfly. When I first read this many years ago it was so helpful to me in understanding Sue that I was inspired to write a companion poem. The poem was illustrated by my bicycle riding friend John Spencer. John had taken a calligraphy course and graciously created a beautiful drawing that has been on my office wall even since. Shortly after that John was involved in a serious bicycle accident and has not done any more drawings since that time, so I treasure this piece.

A color copy of this poem and drawing was sent to Gary Smalley and I received a very nice phone call from Gary thanking me for sharing this with him. I hope you enjoy it, too.   

The Buffalo and the Butterfly
By Richard Lewis
1992
 

The Buffalo stormed across the desert plain,
His name was Stalwart, a stately name.
His best friend was flying up in the sky,
Her name was Tender the Butterfly.
 

T’was a strange friendship that brought them together,
One tough as a rock the other light as a feather.
Stalwart stomped the ground and stirred up lots of dust,
While Tender floated on the wind high above all the fuss.
 

But she knew her protector would keep her safe from harm,
If an enemy came she would swoop down near Stalwart and sound the alarm.
And Stalwart would snort and bellow and send the foe packing,
In the protection department he was not at all lacking.
Tender would soar to the heavens and report she’d seen,
She’d tell Stalwart that she wished he could be were she’d been.
The view from up high was so clean and so clear,
I wish my wings were stronger so I could bring you up there.

 
Old Stalwart laughed so much he fell down on the ground,
Why every buffalo knows that is not where happiness is found.
Why waste time flying around when there is nothing to see,
Come stomp around on the ground and play in the mud with me.

 
You just don’t understand Stalwart – you’re such a nerd,
Just go ahead and play with your dirty old friends in the herd.
Tender flew up to the mountaintops and looked out at the view,
She saw the buffalo hunters were coming – she knew just what to do.

 
Fly away Stalwart, come to the mountains with me, she pleaded,
But Tender I don’t have wings or special hooves to climb that are needed.
The trail was narrow and steep and filled Stalwart with fear,
My dad told me to stay on the flat plains – real buffalos don’t come up here.
 

He rounded the corner and looked down on the sight,
The hunters had shot many of the herd – others had escaped in fright.
Stalwart looked out at the fields, lakes and places he’d never seen,
Now he understood his friend Tender better now that he’d been were she had been.
 

You see Stalwart the tiniest pebble on my wing would knock me from the sky,
But the view that I have from up here helped me save your life.
The Buffalo didn’t fully understand right then,
But was grateful to have this special friend. 

Baby Steps

In the fictional comedy movie “What about Bob” Bob, played by Bill Murray was encouraged by Dr. Leo Marvin, played by Richard Dreyfuss, to take “Baby Steps” to overcome his many fears and phobias. Bob “Baby Steps” through much of the movie with his goldfish “Gil” in a jar tied around his neck.   

 Moving from the world of fiction, here is the quote from Dr Sanjay Gupta in his Fit Nation column in the June 15^th 2009 issue of Time Magazine:

“Just before you picked up this magazine, you probably made a decision that affected your health. Maybe you bought the pizza instead of a salad. Or are sipping soda instead of water. Perhaps you decided once again to delay the beginning of your long-planned exercise routine. Every day there are hundreds of seemingly trivial decisions that individually may not mean a whole lot but in combination can add or subtract a substantial amount of time to or from our lives”.

I think that Dr. Gupta has hit upon a universal truth that applies to growth. We watch the “Biggest Loser” or “The Last 10 Pounds Boot Camp” TV shows where they see instant weight loss results and we would like to see those same quick results in our walk with God. We may focus on the next big spiritual event or retreat or we may focus on big decisions like who we will marry or what our life’s career will be. 

Ultimately I’m beginning to realize that it is really those “hundreds of seemingly trivial decisions” that direct and mold our lives. The things we read, the images we view on our computer, the hours of sleep we get or don’t get, all shape our lives in greater ways than the few “big” decisions that we all think of as life changing. Indeed, by making these small decisions we may find ourselves better positioned to make wise big decisions.

By living intentionally we begin to make a small change in a single area of our lives. It starts with a desire to change and that moves us to an action and after that the action is repeated until the action becomes a habit. Now if your experience mirrors mine, the minute I try to make a small change, all heck breaks loose. I never thought it would be so difficult to try to stick to a certain time to go to bed. Maybe it is my own flesh, my own control issues or that I resist trying to change many years of haphazard living. Perhaps chaos has become my friend.

I am paid in my job to be highly organized but that all changes in my spiritual life where I find that I have little intentionality. In any case, we can expect opposition when we try to change. We draw a line in the sand and it becomes a challenge to change even the seemingly simple areas in our lives. That is where the encouragement comes in. I don’t think that there is anything more wonderful than hearing someone say, “Wow that sounds like you have some growth in your life.” For many of us that simple praise and affirmation is something that we never received at home as kids and we seldom get in our jobs.

Now, I am not talking about accountability here. There is certainly a place for accountability in our lives but often accountability is like the tail wagging the dog. If we are stuck in an area of our life accountability can backfire and make us feel more guilty and eventually result in us dropping out of the accountability system because we either have to be deceptive about how we are doing or keep admitting to our accountability partner that we have failed once again. Seeing ourselves as a “hopeless failure” is where the enemy of our souls would like to keep us because once we reach that low point he can keep telling us the lie that we obviously aren’t qualified for God’s use or service while we are in this condition. Soon we are back trying to earn our way back into God’s grace and make ourselves acceptable to Him again – something that is neither possible nor what God wants, anyway, as His Son paid the price of sin for us.

I have mentioned the concept of Displacement before and this is where that comes in. True and lasting change and victory over sin happens as we allow the good things of God to fill that space in our lives and displace the corruption that has formerly made its home there. This is the concept of putting on that new life that Christ has given you. Paul said it well:

^{COL 3:1-17} 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. Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all. Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Fear and Faith can’t be friends – they can’t occupy the same space. Faith will send the Fear packing. The Peace of Christ will likewise send Discord and Anger on their way. I think you get the idea. The concept is that we can’t drive sin out of our lives but God can and by us embracing Him and putting the good things of God in our lives, He can displace these things that do not belong there. The best that self discipline alone can accomplish is to clean our house temporarily. The risk of just cleaning up our act is that if that space in our life is clean, but left empty, we can end up vulnerable to more attacks.

^{LK 11:24-26} “When an evil spirit comes out of a man, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, `I will return to the house I left.’ When it arrives, it finds the house swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and takes seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that man is worse than the first.”

So what I am proposing is that we begin to take Baby Steps – points of personal decision. We make the little decisions of life, intentionally. We begin to embrace the good things of God and allow them to drive out the things that we can not. We allow a tsunami of God’s Grace to sweep over us. We find a person to stand along side us to give us the encouragement as changes and growth happens in our life. And we find a church environment where we can corporately join with others who are in this process.

Tribute to Our Church

The following posting is a bit about the church that Sue and I attend: Pathway Christian Church in Riverside, CA. This was given as a communion meditation for our congregation this past Sunday. Several of you have asked for a copy of the message.

David speaking about God says in PS 65:4 “Blessed are those you choose and bring near to live in your courts! We are filled with the good things of your house, of your holy temple.”

 When Sue and I first came to Pathway Christian Church about 7 years ago we asked Cathy Taylor about what kind of church it was. Now she could have described the church as fun or friendly or a lot of other positive attributes, but her simple answer was that it was a “healthy” church. Sue and I have inspected this church from front to back and have found Cathy’s description to be true.  

 This church has provided the catalyst or a spark for spiritual growth in our lives. It provides a place where the varied and diverse gifts of several hundred people come together and those gifts work together in harmony to create a truly beautiful and blessed symphony of service to God, to each other, to our community and to friends around the world.   

 The things we do here spread like the ripples on a pond when a small stone is thrown into the water. The stone may be small but the results are visible and far reaching. And there is the overwhelming sense that we do these things not out of duty or obligation but because we realize that God loves us. Out of that wellspring of forgiveness and grace, we love because He first loved us.  

 Every day of the week this church is the focal point for healing and blessing many people. There are Celebrate and Grief Recovery meetings, bible studies, Sunday school classes, youth meetings and various ministry events or gatherings. And then there are the Pathway extended campuses in people’s homes and, of course, the official Pathway Satellite campuses at the Little Green Onion and at Farmer Boy’s Restaurant on Madison Street. I went to Farmer Boys recently for lunch there were many groups of you all over the dining room. There are the Facebook postings where people care and pray for each other and share their love for God openly. There are appointments kept, hospital patients visited, prayers offered and hugs freely given. We rejoice with those who are rejoicing and mourn with those who have suffered loss. There is both laughter and tears. There is food provided, decisions made, baptisms performed and there are songs sung by angelic voices and also by those of us that can only make a joyful noise to the Lord. There are the frontline missionaries we support who risk their lives to share the message of Christ. There are sweet little girls half a world away being kept safe from pimps and predators. There are dozens of parentless children being given hope where there was formerly little to no hope. We have sought to be Jesus with “skin on” to those that don’t yet know what He looks like.

 And there are people standing up testifying, often through their tears, of how God has reached into and changed their lives through the loving people of this church. Some who have walked through these doors of this church are no longer present. Some have fought the good fight, won the race, passed the baton to us and gone ahead to be with the Lord to await our coming. Others have moved out of the area or moved on to attend church elsewhere. We have tried to bless all, while they came through these doors. When they left, we sent them on their way with our blessing and prayers for their continued walk with God. We will miss them, but in their absence, we will continue to give and love freely, whether you come to visit for a day or decide to stay. We want to love you with no strings attached and not because of what you can do for us but because of how much He has loved us and how much we know He loves you.       

 As we come to this time of communion we come to a time of remembrance of what the Lord has done for us. What we are about, as a church, is loving others, because we have first been loved by Him. We can minister to others because God has ministered to us through the precious gift of His Son. We can give because He has given to us. We are who we are as individuals and as a church because of His grace and great demonstrated love. He alone is worthy of our praise. Let us remember Him now as He admonished us to do when He asked us to “Do this in remembrance of Me.”

The work begins in earnest

The Peel arrived and has cleared customs. In CA you have 10 days to register a car and so I had to hurry down to the DMV to avoid any penalties. It was quite the attraction at the DMV and the supervisor said it was the ugliest car she had ever seen.

There are a lot of changes that need to be made on the car and many modifications prior to any driving.  The electrical wiring all needs to be checked out and it has already blown a fuse that looks like it was put into the starter circuit. So now the work begins in earnest…

Magnets

This can be used on the frame of a fiberglass or aluminum vehicle to help trip traffic light sensor coils

There are few things that are more frustrating than getting stuck in a left hand turn lane and the left turn arrow will not trigger. The sensor in the roadway is actually a coil that detects steel in your car passing above the coil and trips the light controller to change the signal. Not triggering the signal is a common problem for motorcyclists and bicyclists and for those of us that have cars with aluminum or fiberglass bodies or aluminum chassis parts. A little trick that motorcyclists and others have discovered is if you put a small magnet low down on your bike or car it will trip the signals so you don’t have to risk getting a ticket by running the red light. Well, both Bill Berger and I had experienced this problem with our fiberglass cars and so I ordered some magnets on eBay that we could attach to the bottom of our cars so we would not have this problem again. Now in the overkill spirit of Tim the Tool Man Taylor I ordered some extremely powerful rare earth magnets that were about 1 inch square and ¼” thick. When I opened the package there was a bright yellow warning sheet with all kinds of notes about not letting the magnets get too close to your computer or wristwatch and warnings that the magnets could injure your fingers if you got them pinched as the magnet jumped across to a metal object. Not thinking, I set the small stack of magnets on my desk just for a minute. Mysteriously I noticed that my computer cursor was moving across the monitor screen and when I looked at what was moving the mouse I discovered it was being magically pulled across the mouse pad towards the magnets with no human help. I realized that these things were indeed dangerous so I decided to take them to the garage where they would not wreck my computer. Of course on the way past the washer/dryer I got a bit too close to the metal surface and the magnets slammed my hand into the dryer. Eventually I got them safely to the garage. Now not wanting to be stingy with the fun I gave Bill Berger his magnet at church. Bill took the magnet and put it in his pants pocket and went out to eat with his family after church. When Bill finished lunch and tried to get up the magnet had stuck Bill’s pants to the metal restaurant chair. We both had to endure a number of magnetic personality jokes over all this but at least we don’t have problems at traffic lights any more.

 I guess this magnetic attraction reminds me of our relationship with our Heavenly Father. Sometimes we may feel far away, but like the magnet, if we will just take a tiny step towards Him we will suddenly find He is there and has drawn close to us in an instant. The invisible force of attraction, His love, is always there. He is patiently waiting.

 The illusion that He is far away is just that – an illusion created by Satan that God has left us and is far off or unreachable. But the secret is that God is actually near and He will draw near to us if we draw near to Him. He has pursued us and He waits patiently for us to take that first step and turn away from our sin and turn back towards Him. We need only read the story of the Prodigal to see this truth but there are many other verses that document this:

 James 4:8 Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world.    

 Psalms 34:8 Taste and see that the Lord is good. Oh, the joys of those who take refuge in him!

 Once that alignment occurs and we are in a right relationship with God there is something special that happens. You may feel a weight is lifted off your shoulders and indeed the burden of sin is not one that we were meant to bear. You may not feel anything at all but have a quiet confidence that something has changed. Or you may be overwhelmed with the fact that you are loved with an incomparable love.

 Oh what a wonderful forgiving Heavenly Father we have. Oh what a Savior that has made this great forgiveness possible.

Sharon

^{LK 22:14-18} When the hour came, Jesus and his apostles reclined at the table. And he said to them, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it finds fulfillment in the kingdom of God.” After taking the cup, he gave thanks and said, “Take this and divide it among you. For I tell you I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” 

Hardly a holiday goes by when Sue does not mention the name of her friend Sharon. You see Sharon was one of those gifted people who could arrange flowers, pictures and Holiday decorations. A few years ago we were at a Sharon’s home and she saw me rubbing Sue’s shoulders and asked if she could have a brief shoulder rub session too, a request to which I agreed. As I began to massage Sharon’s shoulders I could feel the very unnatural hardened lumps there that I knew were the tumors from the cancer that she had told us had spread throughout her body. I was repulsed for a moment and pulled back worrying that I might be hurting her, but she reassured me and told me how wonderful it felt and to go ahead.   

She told us that night that she was going to record a funny farewell video tape for the friends gathered there. She said that for the video recording she planned to dress up in an angel costume with some angel wings and tell us about how she was sad to be gone and that she would wait patiently for all of us in Heaven. How strange it was for us that night knowing that this dinner celebration of our friendship would likely be the last while she was still alive. I guess she ran out of time and energy to record the video because it was only a short time later that she was gone, leaving her husband and her children behind.

 In a small way we might have known what the disciples felt like at that final Passover dinner when Jesus announced that this celebration would be their last. They must have been consumed with fear and sadness and been disoriented, all at the same time. The Man they had walked with for those three magical years would soon be gone. What would they do and where would they go? They had forsaken all to follow him and now he was leaving them. It was unthinkable. Worse yet was the truth that it was one of them who would betray Him.

 We sometimes worry about failing the Lord. There were the parts of that night that the disciples were probably not very proud of as they each failed and even denied Him. They had another argument about who would be the greatest among them. Jesus told Peter that he would be a coward and deny Him several times before the next dawn. They would fall asleep from their sorrow when Jesus needed their support the most. They fled at the first sign of trouble when Jesus was being arrested and the best offensive blow Peter could strike, with his sword, only removed one ear of a man who was not even a soldier. Yet later this rag tag bunch were all dramatically changed. Tradition has it that they all died a martyr’s death except for John. They all lost their lives proclaiming their Lord to the end.     

 Both they and us know that mere death and the tomb could not hold Jesus. He rose again to bring us the promise of new and eternal life with Him and His Father in Heaven. That is truly wonderful news that is worthy of celebration.

Circumstances

The past few weeks have been very difficult. At my job there were many challenges. One project I had been working on had taken several months to get to a testing stage and was failing miserably. Another issue had come up where I had sent a simple e-mail asking about a security setting. The person who received the e-mail misunderstood the contents of the e-mail and instead of just telling me what the setting was they decided to change the setting and this resulted in breaking some critical IT systems until we could undo his changes. Of course, being the one who had sent the original e-mail I was implicated as being part of causing the problem. One morning I had a ton of work to do and when I returned from an early AM coffee break, my company issued laptop had crashed due to a hardware problem. The squiggly pink lines on the screen indicated the video card had failed. After a few hours of waiting, while it was repaired, I had to catch up on the work I needed to do. Then just a few days later the computer did a redo of the same failure and needed the same repair and same parts replaced all over again. I remember going to work one day after all this had been happening and thinking that maybe I should not do any major tasks since everything I was touching was turning to sand. I wasn’t blaming God for my woes but I just kept waiting for another shoe to drop.

 Then just as suddenly as the dark clouds had descended, they lifted. The multi-month project turned around and became a huge success that I even received an award for completing. My laptop computer has continued to run for a few weeks now with no more squiggly lines on the screen. And there have been no IT breakages, in spite of me being required to do some very high risk activities.

 I actually found myself feeling pretty euphoric and then I realized that this roller coaster experience is how I have lived my whole life.  When circumstances are going badly I am depressed and bring a feeling of gloom to all around me. When things are going well, I can be a happy joyful person and praising God. But wait – Did God, who is the same for me yesterday, today and tomorrow, change? Was his love for me any different when things were going poorly or when things were going well? The obvious conclusion was that God’s love was the same and that I have allowed circumstances to determine my attitudes.

 I look at the stories of idolatry in the bible and wonder how the people could dance around a golden calf or other idol when I do the same things. I must confess that I dance around the golden calf of circumstances. I bow to the statue of job security and I pay homage to the graven image of financial prosperity.

 So my month of woes has been an eye opener to me. I am convicted and am realizing that I need to really live my life by faith and not by circumstances. Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever. I need to anchor my life in that fact and not worship the circumstances of the moment.              

 2CO 5:7 We live by faith, not by sight. 

HEB 13:8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

God Meant it for Good

About 12 years ago my previously very successful small sporting goods business began to fail. For almost 20 years it had been my life. We had seen ups and downs but this was the worst downturn. Of course, we prayed but business actually continued to get worse. Many of my 10 employees were also my friends. Being forced to lay off some and finally all, of them, was painful. We downsized into a smaller building and even after all my cost saving measures, including working 7 days a week by myself, it was still clear that the business was no longer profitable.

 We could borrow money to try to keep the store afloat but was that wise since it was losing money so quickly? The decision to close the store was made, we had a final sale at Christmas, I paid all my bills, donated anything left to charity, patched and painted the walls, gave the keys to the space to our landlord and walked away from the business that God had blessed for 19 years. In the midst of all the uncertainty, it was easy to wonder what was happening and how this would all turn out. I had been attending some night college courses to retrain in a different occupation but I had hoped to make a more gradual transition. Why had God seemingly removed his hand of blessing right now? What would I do now to support my family? There were many questions and no obvious answers other than feeling God’s peace and the knowledge that that He had always been faithful to us before.

 Then came an unexpected phone call from someone who I had spoken to only once, many months before. His call was to offer me a job working for a small but growing IT company made up of a number of Christians. One of my evening college instructors was working for this same company and had recommended me. With little knowledge or experience, I was given a wonderful job offer based on my old instructor’s recommendation.

 Suddenly, it became crystal clear why God had allowed the retail store to fail. If it had been doing well, I might have overlooked this wonderful opportunity. If it had been doing well, I might have been too busy to study as extensively for my college classes. If it had been doing well, I would have missed this opportunity to see His hand at work in my life and receive this blessing.

 My heart overflowed with gratitude for the Lord and that His plan and timing was so much better than the script I would have written. He had indeed been working in the background in ways that were revealed so clearly in that one phone call.

 A friend reminded me of when Jeremiah spoke about the Babylonian captivity. They were sent into what looked like a very bad situation but it was actually to pave the way for blessing, restoration and spiritual renewal. Oh, what a wonderful caring Heavenly Father we have.

 JER 24:4-7 Then the word of the LORD came to me: “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: `Like these good figs, I regard as good the exiles from Judah, whom I sent away from this place to the land of the Babylonians. My eyes will watch over them for their good, and I will bring them back to this land. I will build them up and not tear them down; I will plant them and not uproot them. I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the LORD. They will be my people, and I will be their God, for they will return to me with all their heart.