DateLine (6/29/05 - Ponce, Puerto Rico)
We have always had a lot of cats around our house. Harriett likes cats and as our two girls were growing up I guess it was a natural that we have cats as pets. One spring I remember counting almost 30 cats that called our yard home (note this was an anomaly when several of our “momma” cats had litters all at the same time.) We had to do some tall talking to find homes for the extras and get back down to the 6-7 that normally hung out around the house.
Mylon was one of the most beautiful cats that was ever born to our “herd.” We gave her that name because she had the most beautiful long flowing hair much like one of my favorite contemporary Christian artists of the time, Mylon Lefevre, who was known for his long hair. Mylon’s early life was like any of the rest of the cats that were raised in our yard. A worry free existing filled with abundant daily rations of food (i.e. store-bought food, none of that table scrap stuff.) It’s always bugged me to open the front door in the morning and to have to step over several lazy cats on my way to work. Cats at my house have absolutely no responsibility and no pressure. Occasionally I would notice that the cats would supplement their premium diet with a little added protein in the form of a mouse, bird, or ground squirrel. I’m convinced that these catches were not from necessity but simply a sporting proposition that appealed to their primal instincts; just for fun. Sounds like the life huh.
Evidently this existence was not enough for Mylon. I don’t know why but Mylon began to disappear occasionally. Sooner or later she’d return and hang out with the home crowd only to disappear again later. Over time the disappearances stretched into months and the returns seem to last only a few days. I don’t know what was attracting her to leave and I don’t really know what was attracting her to return. Eventually we all came to the conclusion that something had happened to her or she had decided that some other sunny yard and food dish was more appealing.
Not too long ago a scraggly cat showed up at our food dish. At first this seemed like an interloper just passing through because I know in cat world we have to be famous for being a soft touch. After closer examination we realized that Mylon had returned home after having been gone for months, maybe a year or more, a faint shadow of her former beauty. The other cats in the yard did not seem to remember her. In her younger years she had been a little distant and not too open to human touch but now she would approach you as if to beg for a sympathetic touch. A few days ago I buried Mylon. She was so old and weak and in such sad shape she lost in a race across the road in front of a car.
What’s the moral of this story? God has a wonderful plan for our life. He makes tremendous provision for us. He allows us to hang out with Him as the closest friend. Even though at times life is tough he has promised to never burden us with more than we can stand. Sounds like an ideal existence. Some have called it the “abundant life.” In spite of all this sometimes people choose to turn their back on God and stake out their own path; the party life. God has warned us that this approach to living leads to death and destruction.
Wednesday, June 29, 2005
Wednesday, June 22, 2005
Evolution
DateLine (6/23/05 - Ponce, Puerto Rico)
I believe in evolution. OK, before I totally get off on the wrong foot that last sentence was designed to be controversial and an attention grabber. Did it work? Now let me explain. You probably thought I was referring to biological (or organic) evolution which dictionary.com defines as “change in the genetic composition of a population during successive generations, as a result of natural selection acting on the genetic variation among individuals, and resulting in the development of new species.” The typical biological evolutionist believes that the change occurs randomly with no involvement by God. This is actually not the first definition of the word evolution. What I actually want to talk about is much better. The first definition of evolution in dictionary.com is “a gradual process in which something changes into a different and usually more complex or better form.” Now here’s something worth talking about.
Every experience whether good or bad is an opportunity for our faith to evolve or grow stronger. Recently our daughter had a mole removed at the doctor’s office and the initial word from the dermatologist was that things did not look good and the mole would be sent off for testing. It would be several agonizing days before the results would be available. These kinds of “tests” in life help one refocus and prioritize our life. One mentally begins to sort through what is important and what is not important. For a Christian a part of that refocusing is to earnestly seek God in solitude and prayer. Anytime that we spend “quality” time with God as we endure life’s curveballs or in everyday life it will evolve us. How utterly hopeless the plight of the evolutionist who dismisses God when one is being “tested.”
For me the first definition of evolution describes knowing God and having him work in our life every day as we walk with Him. God knows us because He designed us and created us. He gradually works to change us into a different and usually more complex or better form. We are becoming like Him. And one day we’ll be complete. The biological evolutionist has the “big bang” in the beginning. I’m looking for my “big bang” at the end when I finally go home to rest with my Lord. Christian hope is being all that God created you to be. Little by little we’re evolving into just that.
I believe in evolution. OK, before I totally get off on the wrong foot that last sentence was designed to be controversial and an attention grabber. Did it work? Now let me explain. You probably thought I was referring to biological (or organic) evolution which dictionary.com defines as “change in the genetic composition of a population during successive generations, as a result of natural selection acting on the genetic variation among individuals, and resulting in the development of new species.” The typical biological evolutionist believes that the change occurs randomly with no involvement by God. This is actually not the first definition of the word evolution. What I actually want to talk about is much better. The first definition of evolution in dictionary.com is “a gradual process in which something changes into a different and usually more complex or better form.” Now here’s something worth talking about.
Every experience whether good or bad is an opportunity for our faith to evolve or grow stronger. Recently our daughter had a mole removed at the doctor’s office and the initial word from the dermatologist was that things did not look good and the mole would be sent off for testing. It would be several agonizing days before the results would be available. These kinds of “tests” in life help one refocus and prioritize our life. One mentally begins to sort through what is important and what is not important. For a Christian a part of that refocusing is to earnestly seek God in solitude and prayer. Anytime that we spend “quality” time with God as we endure life’s curveballs or in everyday life it will evolve us. How utterly hopeless the plight of the evolutionist who dismisses God when one is being “tested.”
For me the first definition of evolution describes knowing God and having him work in our life every day as we walk with Him. God knows us because He designed us and created us. He gradually works to change us into a different and usually more complex or better form. We are becoming like Him. And one day we’ll be complete. The biological evolutionist has the “big bang” in the beginning. I’m looking for my “big bang” at the end when I finally go home to rest with my Lord. Christian hope is being all that God created you to be. Little by little we’re evolving into just that.
Wednesday, June 15, 2005
"Gypsy"
DateLine (6/15/05 - Ponce, Puerto Rico)
A couple of weeks ago when Harriett, Kyle and I were on vacation in Italy we had a GPS based navigation system in our rental car. I’m convinced that these devices are the best value for relieving the anxiety and stress of navigating in a strange environment. The little device mounted on the dash would give us a visual location on a map, or give a list of the next 6-8 turns, and even announce turns and twists in advance with a friendly sounding voice. I’m curious why the voices on these things always seem to be female voices. We even nicknamed our little friend “Gypsy” and she did a great job of getting us safely and quickly from location to location.
Gypsy had an interesting feature. If you programmed in a certain destination and asked it to calculate a route from your current location to the desired destination it would ask you if you wanted to simulate the trip. If your response was yes then it would proceed to go through all of the turns on the entire route in rapid fire succession. It was so comforting to know that she already had the entire trip mapped out, step by step.
Now wouldn’t it be nice if God would ask us if we would like to simulate the route from where we currently are in our life until the end of our life. Each step in advance before we’re faced with the reality. The thought of knowing what lies ahead 6 months from now, 1 year from now, 10 years from now, 50 years from now. That would give us such peace of mind and we would have plenty of time to get prepared for big future events. Or would it? No doubt in my mind that our omniscient heavenly Father could provide to us a detailed map of our future life. It’s also been my experience that God does not work this way. I don’t know why but I can imagine if we knew our complete future we might become so preoccupied with some future event(s) that we would be rendered ineffective for today.
My experience is more like the “real-time” mode of Gypsy. Giving us a few turns at a time, calling out when we’re approaching the next turn, warning us when the road forks and we need to get in one lane or the other. It’s our job to listen attentively as He patiently calls out instructions and to have enough faith in the instructions to follow them explicitly and trust God with the future. There was one more neat feature about Gypsy. When I got off course or missed a turn a little message would pop up that indicated that she was re-calculating the route to get me back on course. God is the same way with us. If we occasionally ignore His instructions, God recalculates our course and prepares instructions to get us back on course. The way that we retrieve those instructions is via a prayer of confession. Aren’t you glad that God is on the job as our Master navigator?
A couple of weeks ago when Harriett, Kyle and I were on vacation in Italy we had a GPS based navigation system in our rental car. I’m convinced that these devices are the best value for relieving the anxiety and stress of navigating in a strange environment. The little device mounted on the dash would give us a visual location on a map, or give a list of the next 6-8 turns, and even announce turns and twists in advance with a friendly sounding voice. I’m curious why the voices on these things always seem to be female voices. We even nicknamed our little friend “Gypsy” and she did a great job of getting us safely and quickly from location to location.
Gypsy had an interesting feature. If you programmed in a certain destination and asked it to calculate a route from your current location to the desired destination it would ask you if you wanted to simulate the trip. If your response was yes then it would proceed to go through all of the turns on the entire route in rapid fire succession. It was so comforting to know that she already had the entire trip mapped out, step by step.
Now wouldn’t it be nice if God would ask us if we would like to simulate the route from where we currently are in our life until the end of our life. Each step in advance before we’re faced with the reality. The thought of knowing what lies ahead 6 months from now, 1 year from now, 10 years from now, 50 years from now. That would give us such peace of mind and we would have plenty of time to get prepared for big future events. Or would it? No doubt in my mind that our omniscient heavenly Father could provide to us a detailed map of our future life. It’s also been my experience that God does not work this way. I don’t know why but I can imagine if we knew our complete future we might become so preoccupied with some future event(s) that we would be rendered ineffective for today.
My experience is more like the “real-time” mode of Gypsy. Giving us a few turns at a time, calling out when we’re approaching the next turn, warning us when the road forks and we need to get in one lane or the other. It’s our job to listen attentively as He patiently calls out instructions and to have enough faith in the instructions to follow them explicitly and trust God with the future. There was one more neat feature about Gypsy. When I got off course or missed a turn a little message would pop up that indicated that she was re-calculating the route to get me back on course. God is the same way with us. If we occasionally ignore His instructions, God recalculates our course and prepares instructions to get us back on course. The way that we retrieve those instructions is via a prayer of confession. Aren’t you glad that God is on the job as our Master navigator?
Wednesday, June 08, 2005
Making a Mark
DateLine (6/8/05 - Ponce, Puerto Rico)
A few weeks ago I called up Google’s website which displays a map of the area when given an address. I wanted to show some of the people I’m working with in Puerto Rico what it was like in the rural setting where I live. I typed in my home address and the first response was a street map with a link in the upper right hand portion of the web page which switches to an actual satellite photo. I clicked on satellite link and zoomed to the maximum resolution and got oriented to the view of my home and yard in the webpage. Something caught my eye in my yard to the northwest of my house. A circular pattern which looked like a place where a Martian spaceship had landed or one of those strange crop circle patterns that you can only get perspective on from an aerial view. What was this strange circle?
Then it dawns on me. At least 10 years ago while visiting my in-laws my father-in-law gave me a few sprigs of grass from a section of his lawn. I brought them home and placed them in a remote spot in my lawn and forgot about it. After a few years I begin to notice that the sprigs had not only taken root but were spreading. I was aware that the area was increasing in size but unless I pointed it out to you it is not something that would catch your eye and it certainly was not visible from the road that runs in front of my house. Then it hit me, a few sprigs of grass had grown into something that was visible from a satellite in space.
Now here’s where God comes in. By faith we pray for God to indwell us and use us to achieve His objectives here on earth. Sometimes we are tempted to become discouraged because we perceive from our vantage point that God has not answered our prayer and we’re not making a mark for Him or our impact is perceived to be so small as to be ineffective. Here’s the point that should encourage us. From ground level (i.e. our view) it may not be possible to observe the true impact that we are having for God. God looks down from the satellite view with perfect “big picture” perspective. By faith we have confidence that His view is all that matters. God will make a mark on His people and He will use His people to make His mark on this earth even if we’re blind to it. Our mark may only be revealed to us when we join Him at “home.” That’s when we’ll have satellite perspective.
A few weeks ago I called up Google’s website which displays a map of the area when given an address. I wanted to show some of the people I’m working with in Puerto Rico what it was like in the rural setting where I live. I typed in my home address and the first response was a street map with a link in the upper right hand portion of the web page which switches to an actual satellite photo. I clicked on satellite link and zoomed to the maximum resolution and got oriented to the view of my home and yard in the webpage. Something caught my eye in my yard to the northwest of my house. A circular pattern which looked like a place where a Martian spaceship had landed or one of those strange crop circle patterns that you can only get perspective on from an aerial view. What was this strange circle?
Then it dawns on me. At least 10 years ago while visiting my in-laws my father-in-law gave me a few sprigs of grass from a section of his lawn. I brought them home and placed them in a remote spot in my lawn and forgot about it. After a few years I begin to notice that the sprigs had not only taken root but were spreading. I was aware that the area was increasing in size but unless I pointed it out to you it is not something that would catch your eye and it certainly was not visible from the road that runs in front of my house. Then it hit me, a few sprigs of grass had grown into something that was visible from a satellite in space.
Now here’s where God comes in. By faith we pray for God to indwell us and use us to achieve His objectives here on earth. Sometimes we are tempted to become discouraged because we perceive from our vantage point that God has not answered our prayer and we’re not making a mark for Him or our impact is perceived to be so small as to be ineffective. Here’s the point that should encourage us. From ground level (i.e. our view) it may not be possible to observe the true impact that we are having for God. God looks down from the satellite view with perfect “big picture” perspective. By faith we have confidence that His view is all that matters. God will make a mark on His people and He will use His people to make His mark on this earth even if we’re blind to it. Our mark may only be revealed to us when we join Him at “home.” That’s when we’ll have satellite perspective.
Wednesday, June 01, 2005
Monuments
DateLine (6/1/05- Tuscany, Italy)
700 years of majestic tradition. Places of worship built before our own country was even known to the Christian world. Cathedrals that consist of architectural wonders unimaginable unless viewed in the flesh. Unparalleled art admired and studied by the world - monuments to the Christian faith central to the culture of Renaissance Italy. Relics (so called) of the early fathers like leg bones, hands, teeth, housed in gold and silver containers in the vaults of the great cathedrals. One cathedral even boasting of having the arm (at least bone) of John the Baptist; the very arm that baptized Jesus. All things that I’ve personally experienced this week.
Some of our own Christian traditions can be traced back to the culture that produced these wonders. I’ll be the first to admit that there is something comforting and reassuring about religious tradition in a way like your favorite piece of clothing, TV program, or a familiar routine but I can’t help but feel that somewhere along the way God’s intent was corrupted. You know that we humans have a way of doing that.
Along the way of the week’s experience I found one of these great monuments that I can relate to. I’ve attempted a little construction work in my time, do-it-yourself projects, many times that don’t quite turn out like I would like. In a small Tuscan town called Pisa, a “little” bell tower project went awry. Somewhere along the way the builders realized that the foundation was not adequate to support its weight and the tower started to lean during construction. The builders attempted to correct the situation by putting a slight bend in the tower to straighten it up. The result was a beautiful tower with a pronounced lean and a bent at the top. The architect and builders must have felt very dissatisfied with their work.
What’s all this mean? If the foundation is not suitable then it doesn’t matter how great the effort. We can try all we want and we’ll never be able to adequately correct for a poor foundation. The Christian life is much like a “bell tower” project. Unless we build our life on a solid foundation of faith in Christ (i.e. an initial declaration of Christ as Lord, a daily calling out to God for forgiveness and direction) then our life will fall short of the Architect’s intent.
But you know God had the last laugh. Who says God doesn’t have a sense of humor. Pisa is out in the middle of nowhere but tourists from all over the world flock there to see the “leaning” bell tower. God can take an imperfect project (i.e. me) and make it a world famous tourist attraction. There’s hope for us all.
700 years of majestic tradition. Places of worship built before our own country was even known to the Christian world. Cathedrals that consist of architectural wonders unimaginable unless viewed in the flesh. Unparalleled art admired and studied by the world - monuments to the Christian faith central to the culture of Renaissance Italy. Relics (so called) of the early fathers like leg bones, hands, teeth, housed in gold and silver containers in the vaults of the great cathedrals. One cathedral even boasting of having the arm (at least bone) of John the Baptist; the very arm that baptized Jesus. All things that I’ve personally experienced this week.
Some of our own Christian traditions can be traced back to the culture that produced these wonders. I’ll be the first to admit that there is something comforting and reassuring about religious tradition in a way like your favorite piece of clothing, TV program, or a familiar routine but I can’t help but feel that somewhere along the way God’s intent was corrupted. You know that we humans have a way of doing that.
Along the way of the week’s experience I found one of these great monuments that I can relate to. I’ve attempted a little construction work in my time, do-it-yourself projects, many times that don’t quite turn out like I would like. In a small Tuscan town called Pisa, a “little” bell tower project went awry. Somewhere along the way the builders realized that the foundation was not adequate to support its weight and the tower started to lean during construction. The builders attempted to correct the situation by putting a slight bend in the tower to straighten it up. The result was a beautiful tower with a pronounced lean and a bent at the top. The architect and builders must have felt very dissatisfied with their work.
What’s all this mean? If the foundation is not suitable then it doesn’t matter how great the effort. We can try all we want and we’ll never be able to adequately correct for a poor foundation. The Christian life is much like a “bell tower” project. Unless we build our life on a solid foundation of faith in Christ (i.e. an initial declaration of Christ as Lord, a daily calling out to God for forgiveness and direction) then our life will fall short of the Architect’s intent.
But you know God had the last laugh. Who says God doesn’t have a sense of humor. Pisa is out in the middle of nowhere but tourists from all over the world flock there to see the “leaning” bell tower. God can take an imperfect project (i.e. me) and make it a world famous tourist attraction. There’s hope for us all.
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