Monthly Archives: January 2013

A bird in the house and the offering of a helpful hand

Posted on January 21, 2013 by | Comments Off on A bird in the house and the offering of a helpful hand

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On Saturday morning, our family had an unexpected visitor in our house.  As we were doing our morning preparations for participating in our church’s visitation program and breakfast, I had a bird zip past the kitchen door and slam into our glass door.  The bird flew back down the hallway and into our living room and hid itself among the many plants that we have in the large picture window.  I removed one of them, panting and scared, was that little bird.  Not wanting to risk hurting it by grabbing it, I decided to hold out a finger in front of it; to my surprise, it jumped onto my finger and allowed me to pick it up and carry it outside.  It even allowed me and our two year old daughter to lightly stroke its back before flying away.

Little did I know the lessons that God would teach me by having a small feathered visitor that morning.  Even as I look at the photograph taken by my wife, Michelle, I am astounded at the lessons that this one event can be used to teach. The first that comes to mind is a teaching by our Lord Jesus Christ: Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God? But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows (Luke 12:6-7).  Our little visitor is, in the minds of many, just a small and insignificant bird; he (or she) is literally one of millions of finches that are found in our area. With the exception to our families and friends, we too, in the eyes of this world are simply  one of billions, insignificant  and little of value. However, in the eyes of God, we are much more than that; we are a valued and cherished precious life.  Each person is divinely created, with a divine appointment, by a holy and loving God.

Just as this bird was trapped in our house, he was faced with two alternatives – allow me to help him or to continue to escape on his own.   He could have flown from the window sill to any place in the house.  He also would have faced other obstacles he was unaware of, such as our cat.  Again, this is such a spiritual lesson as it seems totally against a wild bird’s nature to trust anything they cannot begin to understand; similarly, it is against our flesh’s concept of self-preservation to trust in someone we cannot totally comprehend, much less cannot see!

The Psalmist and kind, David, wrote Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers: the snare is broken, and we are escaped (Psalms 124:7). The fowlers that David refers to is a type of bondage – anything that keeps and holds us back from the full enjoyment of life that only God can give.  The fowler is all the world can offer; bondage to sin, disease, disappointment, discouragement, emptiness, and a perpetual sense of incompleteness.  Its easy to see it in the faces of those we meet each day – sad and heavy facial expressions, joyless lives, and numerous attempts to fill the void with something and anything that will make those feelings go away.  What we see developing in the lives of those seeking to fill the void is increased drug usage, risky sex, tattoos, piercings and other bodily mutilations are all symptoms of a much greater problem – bondage to sin, to the flesh, and to Satan.  There is no permanent fulfillment in the flesh, only more bondage, more emptiness, and increased feelings of loneliness. Only through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ can they escape the fowler and truly enjoy life the way that God desires us to.

Just as the bird made the decision to allow me to help him, we must make the decision to trust in the Lord Jesus Christ.  We must make the decision to come to him, to allow him to work in our lives, and to allow him complete and unfettered control.  Just as that bird had to surrender its feelings of self-preservation and to trust in me to take care of it, we also must surrender our fleshly will, yield to God, and fully trust in him to provide for all our needs.  By his own nature, he cannot force us to love him, to desire to serve him, or to live our lives through him.

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Posted in Chrisitian Philosophy

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When our perception is not enough, ask God

Posted on January 16, 2013 by | Comments Off on When our perception is not enough, ask God

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A couple of years back and during a trip to St. Augustine, Florida as my wife and I were visiting her parents, we all went on an evening walk along the beach along one of the islands east of the city.  As we were heading back to the car, we all commented how beautiful the sunset was.  It was a great way to end a day of great fellowship, food, and conversation.  Although the picture serves as a reminder of a good day that we all shared, it is simply a record of our perception of the sunset as it appeared that evening.  Anyone who was not with us would simply look at that picture and see a sunset from the perspective the photographer wants them to have.

Oftentimes, we do the same thing when it comes to presenting ourselves.  We present an image of what we want others to see and not who we actually are.  We don’t want others to know we are in pain, are facing hardships, or struggling with real spiritual battles.  We don’t want others to see our failures, our shortcomings, or self-doubts.  What we do want them to see is our joys, our victories, our triumphs, and anything else that we thinks portray us from the perspective we want them to have.  For some people, it goes beyond trying to impress others to the extent of actually fooling themselves.  They see themselves as being a relatively good person; at one point I was one of scores that didn’t see anything wrong with the way I was living my life.  I always prided myself in that I didn’t do many of the things that others did.  It was a way to “justify” myself and my actions.  Even after I accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as my Savior, I continued to lift myself up, to see myself from the perspective that God warns us against through the Old Testament prophet, Obadiah: The pride of thine heart hath deceived thee, thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high; that saith in his heart, Who shall bring me down to the ground? Though thou exalt thyself as the eagle, and though thou set thy nest among the stars, thence will I bring thee down, saith the LORD (Obadiah 1:3-4).

Even the apostle Paul warned about our perception of ourselves and the deception it causes if our focus is not on Christ.  He wrote to the church in Galatia: For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself (Galatians 6:3).  Since the time I had accepted  the Lord Jesus Christ as my Savior until 2004, I had served as an interim pastor to a small church in Clifton Choctaw Community in Louisiana, as pastor of a small United Methodist Church in Clinton, Kentucky, as well as a Sunday School teacher, Wednesday night Bible Study coach, and song/worship leader and choir director for several churches from Germany to Kentucky.  Although I was struggling with family issues, health issues, and other trials, I believed I could not be that bad since God had allowed me to serve him in all those capacities.  What I couldn’t understand was that things were not going to get better until I chose to be real with my faith, to examine my life through the lens of the Bible, and to allow the Holy Spirit of God to direct my paths.  Although I had presided over the Lord’s Supper and used I Corinthians 11:23-32 as a way to bring into mind the seriousness of this fellowship and communion with God, in my own life, I was not worthy to enjoy the type of fellowship I was claiming.

The pride of my heart had deceived me.  Although I was a Christian and had been saved by the grace of God, my attitude had placed me where I could not spiritually grow, I could not be blessed, nor could I fully accept the grace that God so freely gave and continued to give me until I was forced to see myself from God’s perspective.  As the apostle Paul wrote, all Christians at some point in their spiritual growth are faced with a simple but difficult truth: For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled (II Corinthians 10:3-6).  Just because we are bound to this earth by our fleshly bodies, we are not to fight for the things that the flesh wants.

Even for Christians, the flesh wants justification for its lusts and its sinful deeds; as Christians and through the grace of Jesus Christ, we should not only avoid fighting for the fleshly desires we have but reject everything that comes between us and Christ.  Even Job, a man that God allowed Satan to attack, was forced to examine himself for sins that kept him separated from God.  As recorded in the book that bears his name, Job prayed to God: Only do not two things unto me: then will I not hide myself from thee. Withdraw thine hand far from me: and let not thy dread make me afraid. Then call thou, and I will answer: or let me speak, and answer thou me. How many are mine iniquities and sins? make me to know my transgression and my sin. Wherefore hidest thou thy face, and holdest me for thine enemy? (Job 13:20-24).  Although Job had not committed any sin but was being tested by Satan for his unwavering faith in a holy and merciful God, his “friends” had accused him of having hidden sins and an impure heart; in their opinion, it was the only explanation they had to offer Job.  Job began to examine his life and even called upon God to show him his unconfessed sins, impurities in his heart, and his disobedience so he could repent of it to restore that special fellowship he had with God.

I had my “breaking moment” in 2004 – I was going through what would lead to a second divorce, was deep in a custody battle with my first wife, and was trying to finish my M.A. and starting my Ph.D. – all in a six month period.  I couldn’t understand what was wrong with God and why he was intent on allowing Satan to destroy me.  Instead of seeing and understanding that the things that were happening were all based on decisions I had made without spending time in prayer, without considering whether I was in the will of God, or even if what I was doing was God’s plan for my life, I simply acted and then prayed that I had made the right choice.  Sure, at the time I was sewing the seeds for what would bloom in 2004, I thought I was doing what God wanted using the logic that God would not have brought the opportunities I had taken if they had not been his will.

In early 2005, I reached my breaking point – I began to seriously question everything about my faith – and found an answer in several verses: Blessed are they that keep his testimonies, and that seek him with the whole heart (Psalms 119:2); Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near (Isaiah 55:6); and finally, The meek shall eat and be satisfied: they shall praise the LORD that seek him: your heart shall live for ever (Psalms 22:26).  Yes, I had made a profession of faith and there was no doubt that I had accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as my one and only Savior; however, once I had accepted him, I never sought after him with my whole heart.  I had to come to the understanding that without focusing on Christ, the natural condition of any heart is wicked: The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? (Jeremiah 17:9).  I also had to realize another important lesson from Paul: Do ye look on things after the outward appearance? If any man trust to himself that he is Christ’s, let him of himself think this again, that, as he is Christ’s, even so are we Christ’s (II Corinthians 10:7). I didn’t actively seek him and his will for my life but instead, focused on what I wanted to do.  What I needed to do from that point forward was to seek after him and his will, and even when I don’t understand it, rejoice in his perfect will and have faith that he has my best interests in mind.  I had to examine myself, be sure of my salvation, and not focus on what others saw on the outside, but focus on what was inside me.

Since that moment, life has not been perfect but I have learned to rejoice through the trials as well as through the blessings.  Spiritually, the Lord has allowed me to grow in ways I have never known or could have comprehended just a few short years ago.  Instead of feeling a sense of dread or avoidance when running into fellow church members in town, I rejoice when I do so because my happiness is sincere and genuine. I enjoy a sweet fellowship with my Lord and Saviour in my prayer life, in personal devotions, and even personal Bible studies in ways that I never imagined possible.  It has made me a better husband and father, more faithful in my church attendance, and more ready to fellowship and am more ready to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with others.

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Posted in My Walk, Relationships

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Understanding the gift of “today”

Posted on January 15, 2013 by | Comments Off on Understanding the gift of “today”

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Instead of making new year’s resolutions this year, I decided to take things day by day.  I know what needs to be done around the house, for my family, at the community college where I teach, the printing ministry that my wife and I have the enjoyment of operating, and my personal needs such as exercise, diet, personal devotion, Bible reading, prayer time, and practicing.  It actually requires me to prioritize my time and to weigh the things that are the most important that I must accomplish each day.  Now since we are in the  third week of January, I have noticed that I am getting more done when I am concentrated on what needs to be done today instead of worrying about the long term goal or what needs to be done by Friday.

This morning, as I was doing my personal Bible reading, I came across this scripture in Proverbs: Boast not thyself of to morrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth (Proverbs 27:1) which then led me to one of Christ’s teachings on that same topic: Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof (Matthew 6:34). Instead of keeping my focus on today, oftentimes in my past I have focused on the future and willingly sacrificed too much of the present.  Instead of enjoying the time with my children, with my family and friends, I chose to use all the time I had preparing for a future that may or may not have turned out to be the way I wanted it to.

This past Thursday, as I was returning home from an interview in Kansas City, Missouri, I needed to take a break from driving to stretch my legs and to refresh my mind.  I decided to stop at a tourist-trap shop named Ozarkland near Kingdom City, Missouri.  As I walked around the store full of the typical items normally found at such shops, I found a wooden sign that reads “Yesterday is history and tomorrow is a mystery.  But today is a gift, that is why we call it the present.”  Normally, I do not buy house signs but this one was different.  I honestly stood there for what seemed ten minutes looking at the sign and letting its simple message sink in.  Tomorrow is the past; I cannot change what happened in it. As a Christian, all I can do is to seek forgiveness for those whom I have wronged, to forgive those who may have wronged me, and to seek forgiveness from God when I have fallen beyond temptation and have chosen to sink into sin.  That’s all that I can do about yesterday and no amount of worrying or post-day analysis can change what has happened.

By fully accepting each day as a gift from God, we begin to see how important each day is and the people that fill our days.  It is a gift from God that I get to spend time with my two-year old daughter.  It is a gift from God when I get to attend church and enjoy the worship and fellowship with God and the other Christians that attend my church.  It is a gift from God when I have the chance to share my love of history with my students in the classes I teach.  When we begin to see the day and the things which are in it as time that is a gift from God we appreciate them more, waste less time, and are drawn to make every moment count. We begin to truly appreciate when our spouses, our children, coworkers, friends, and other family members want to share their time with us. It also makes us more careful in our interactions with others and with God; it creates a strong desire within us to avoid things that create discord between ourselves and those we care about.

It also causes us to prioritize what we decide to achieve each day; too many times in the past I had adopted the old attitude of if I cannot get it done today there is always tomorrow.  Instead of doing what needed to be done, I picked and chose those things I wanted to do, piddled with things that didn’t really matter in the big scheme of things, or was just a poor steward of my time.  Not only are we not promised tomorrow, but tomorrow has its own agenda and its own list of things that need to be done.  Just as the sign said – tomorrow is a mystery indeed!  We have no idea what tomorrow may hold and what could consume our time and keep us from getting everything we had planned to do.

I am not saying that we have to be productive every minute of the day; we do need our daily down time.  What I have learned is that we need to make sure that when we do take that down time we have actually earned it.  There’s nothing worse than running out of day before you run out of things to do – especially when unwise management of our time has left us with things that needed to be done and the things we did get done were the small items on the list that really didn’t matter. We allowed small things to take time away that we could be spending with our family, friends, and even our daily personal devotions with God.  When we really value the gift of today and accept the reality that we are not promised anything but this moment, we really begin to see what is truly important in our lives and what is simply filler.  In other words, we need to live each day as if it were our last.

As I was unpacking the car from the overnight trip to and from Kansas City, I shared the sign with my wife; she also agreed that we need to hang it where we can see it every day.  We’ve decided that the perfect spot for it is in our dining area where it will be visible to all who are sitting at our dining room table.  It’s a simple message that’s worth learning, memorizing, sharing, or maybe even just writing on a sticky-note and sticking it inside your Bible:  Yesterday is history and tomorrow is a mystery. But today is a gift, that is why we call it the present.

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Posted in Christian Living, Our relationship with ourselves

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