tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-640655757125908062024-03-13T12:49:02.560-07:00Gethsemane & Middletown UM Charge BlogGethsemane & Middletown UM Charge Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17221740416450728007noreply@blogger.comBlogger78125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-64065575712590806.post-48512966038302981832022-03-08T14:00:00.001-08:002022-03-08T14:00:17.846-08:00It's the Most Wonderful Time... (March 6, 2022)<p><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;">If I started off in song right about now with the above lyrics, I’m betting the majority of you would be able to finish them…well at least the first line. Just in case you can’t come up with them right away, let me remind you:</span></p>
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<p style="background-color: white; color: #18191b; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;">It's the most wonderful time of the year</p>
<p style="background-color: white; color: #18191b; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;">With the kids jingle belling</p>
<p style="background-color: white; color: #18191b; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;">And everyone telling you be of good cheer</p>
<p style="background-color: white; color: #18191b; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;">It's the most wonderful time of the year</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">There. Happy now? More likely than not, I’ve successfully planted a Christmas tune firmly into your ear. If it’s not there yet, you’re welcome to go back and sing it aloud this time. That will surely do it. (No thanks necessary.) As you might know, this song has made the rounds for years. With everyone from Andy Williams to Johnny Mathis to Garth Brooks to Harry Connick Jr. to Jennifer Lopez recording versions of the hit, I am certain that you have heard the tune at least once in your life. And now, at this point, you’re wondering, “Why on earth did you get me humming Christmas songs at the start of March?” Well, that’s a fair question, and I will set your minds at rest…it wasn’t just to torment you. (For that, there are other songs that are much, much worse.) It also wasn’t because I had that song stuck in my head and I wanted somebody else to share in my “joy.” Nope. There’s a better reason for it, and that is for us to focus on the season and the time of year that we are entering into at this present moment.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">You see, we have just started the season of Lent which will lead us into Easter. Although Edward Pola and George Wyle (the composers of “The Most Wonderful Time of the Year”) would disagree with me, I would like to argue that the current season is actually the most wonderful time of the year. In fact, I’ve composed a little re-write of the lyrics for you. Here goes:</p>
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<p style="background-color: white; color: #18191b; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;">It's the most wonderful time of the year</p>
<p style="background-color: white; color: #18191b; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;">With the daffodils blooming</p>
<p style="background-color: white; color: #18191b; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;">And people A-chooing ‘cause allergies are here</p>
<p style="background-color: white; color: #18191b; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;">It's the most wonderful time of the year</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I know. My version is much more catchy. Anybody know someone in the record industry? I could work out the rest of the lyrics, and we’d fill a gap in the market. Spring-time music. It would be an instant hit. </p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">All kidding aside, this is a wonderful season, this season of the approaching spring. There are reminders of life popping up all over the place. Birds are chirping. The air is warming. One can venture outside without worrying about slipping on ice or scraping off the car or trudging through piles of yucky, brown, snowy slop. Though I would stop short of calling the spring my “favorite season” (I like to be impartial, and I don’t want to make the other seasons jealous.), there are many benefits to springtime, the weather and the new signs of life after a dead and dreary winter are just a few of them. </p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">What makes this season truly wonderful is the opportunity that we have to prepare for Easter and all of the things that we celebrate around that day (and no, I’m not talking about the Easter Bunny or the Cadbury Easter Lion or even how much I enjoy the occasional Peep & Reese’s Peanut Butter Egg.). No, the thing that makes this season special is that we are presented with an opportunity to prepare our hearts and minds and spirits and lives to celebrate the death and resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. </p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Without being trite, Holy Week is like no other week in history. From the celebration of Palm Sunday to the tears of blood shed in Gethsemane. From the victory promised by a King riding on a donkey to the victory that was realized with a King being raised from the dead. From the friends that betrayed to the Friend that promises to never leave. From a crown of thorns to an eternal throne. On and on and on the events of that week forever changed the course of all eternity, and <b><i>this</i></b> season, the one we are currently living through, this season called Lent is an opportunity for us to once again prepare our hearts, our minds, our spirits, our lives to worship Jesus and celebrate his life, death, and resurrection at Easter. Yes, friends, this is the most wonderful time of the year.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">And so, I must ask you: How are you going to prepare?</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">How are you going to prepare for Easter? This year? 2022? During this time, during this season, right now in this moment, are you prepared to prepare for Easter? Are you willing to participate in Lent?</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Now, I recognize that Lent can get a bad rap. We can think that it boils down to a time when we’re asked to give up chocolate or eat fish on Fridays or somehow deny ourselves in some other way. All of these things aren’t necessarily bad. In fact, it might be beneficial to us if we were to give up chocolate, or eat fish on Fridays, or deny ourselves in some other way. None of those practices are inherently wrong; however, they should not be the point. Instead, this is an opportunity for us to grow in Christ, to draw closer to the Father, to continue to be filled with the Holy Spirit and to prepare for Holy Week and for Easter celebrations. With that in mind, is there something that you can do for this season, for Lent, that will strengthen your relationship with Christ?</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Have you been meaning to have some quiet time each day? Lent is a great time to start.</p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Have you been wishing that you read the Bible in the morning? Lent is a great time to start.<br />
Have you been hoping to see an increase in your prayer life? Lent is a great time to start.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">There are so many things that we might try or do or adopt or give up, and now, right now, is the perfect time to do them. </p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Join a small group, invite friends over for fellowship and prayer, give up that chocolate and donate your candy money to someone who is hungry, spend time volunteering at a food bank, set an alarm on your phone for 1pm each day and spend 5 minutes in prayer, call people who are lonely, memorize a Psalm that speaks to you, try fasting for one meal once a week, read new devotional material…take the opportunity to be drawn closer to Jesus during this season. It is a great time to do so! In fact, it is the most wonderful time of the year to do so. I’m not asking for you to do the whole list, in fact I’d advise against it, but I am asking if you’d be willing to take one small step, make one small change, do one thing differently for this season and see what happens. No magic formulas. No do ____ and you are guaranteed ____. Nothing like that. Just a small step of faith during Lent to see if that helps promote a deepening of your relationship with God. </p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Are you in? Will you do it? Will you participate in Lent and take that small step with me? I hope and pray that you will!</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">At this point of the devotional, I’d typically turn to our Scripture passage for the day and highlight how it connects with all of the things that I have been writing about thus far. I’d love to do that this time as well; however, there is another problem that I need to address. Here it is: Lent isn’t a Biblical command. There is not a Bible passage that I can reference. There is no example of an Apostle practicing Lent. Jesus didn’t say anything about it. In fact, if you spent the season of Lent looking for the word “Lent” in your Bible, you’d not come up with anything. Plainly and simply, the practice of Lent is not found in the Bible at any point. </p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Why do it then?</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Well, for all of the reasons mentioned above, as well as for the reason that the Church (big “C”, Body of Christ, faithful followers of Jesus) has historically found this to be a significant practice. From the time of the early church, many disciples of Jesus have found the season of Lent to be productive, fruitful, life-giving, enriching and holy. There is room for us to learn from sisters and brothers in Christ who have experienced Jesus during Lenten seasons, and we might seek to do the same. Additionally, the 40 days of Lent (you don’t count Sundays) have plenty of Biblical parallels (think 40 years in the wilderness for the Israelites or the 40-day fast of Jesus). Even though Lent is “not in the Bible”, it is still a biblical practice to fast, to pray, to prepare, and to seek God. No, it is not mandated. There is not an explicit demand to refrain from chocolate bunnies; however, there are plenty of reasons to engage in Lenten practices.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Alright. I’ll digress. I don’t want to badger anybody, but I do want to encourage you. My heart as a follower of Jesus is to grow to be more like Christ. My heart as a follower of Jesus is to also see other followers of Jesus grow to be more like Christ. Bottom line…I am trying to encourage you to take an opportunity of the season to do so. Who knows? Perhaps by the end of Lent, 2022, you too will be singing “It’s the most wonderful time of the year.”</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: right;">~ Pastor Chris</p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">As a bonus, here are some passages for further reflection as we journey through Lent:</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i>Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. </i><span style="font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><b><i> </i></b></span><i>For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. </i><span style="font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><b><i> </i></b></span><i>Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.</i></p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: right;"><i>~ Hebrews 4:14-16</i></p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i>Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted</i><span style="font-size: 10px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><i> </i></span><i>by the devil. </i><span style="font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><b><i> </i></b></span><i>After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. </i><span style="font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><b><i> </i></b></span><i>The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”</i></p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i>Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”</i></p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i>Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. </i><span style="font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><b><i> </i></b></span><i>“If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written:</i></p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i>“‘He will command his angels concerning you,<br />
</i><span style="font-family: Menlo; font-size: 6.7px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><i> </i></span><i>and they will lift you up in their hands,<br />
</i><span style="font-family: Menlo; font-size: 6.7px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><i> </i></span><i>so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”</i></p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i>Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”</i></p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i>Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. </i><span style="font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><b><i>9 </i></b></span><i>“All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.”</i></p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i>Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’”</i></p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i>Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.</i></p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: right;"><i>~Matthew 4:1-11</i></p>Gethsemane & Middletown UM Charge Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17221740416450728007noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-64065575712590806.post-65911783825839723572022-02-08T14:25:00.003-08:002022-02-08T14:25:54.704-08:00Love Hurts (February 8, 2022)<p><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;">Alright!</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;">It’s February!</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;">You all know what that means.</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;">As the commercials will tell you and the stores will try to sell you, it is the month of love.</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;">That’s right.</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;">February is the month of love!</span></p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Now, as we have entered the “month of love” I figured I would go along with the theme and start us off with the lyrics from a classic song about love. Here it is…“Love Hurts” by Nazareth.</p>
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<p style="color: #18191b; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;">Love hurts, love scars</p>
<p style="color: #18191b; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;">Love wounds and marks</p>
<p style="color: #18191b; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;">Any heart</p>
<p style="color: #18191b; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;">Not tough or strong enough</p>
<p style="color: #18191b; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;">To take a lot of pain, take a lot of pain</p>
<p style="color: #18191b; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;">Love is like a cloud</p>
<p style="color: #18191b; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;">Holds a lot of rain</p>
<p style="color: #18191b; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;">Love hurts</p>
<p style="color: #18191b; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;">Ooh, ooh, love hurts </p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">If that isn’t enough to make you want to go out and buy a bunch of chocolate and a bouquet of flowers, I don’t know what will! It makes me feel all warm and gushy inside! </p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Love hurts.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">(Just as an aside, if you have some internet access, go ahead and go to YouTube and watch the music video for this song. Now, that hurts! It caused a lot of personal pain in my life. I couldn’t make it through the whole thing.)</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Back to the point, love hurts.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">How do I know this? Do I know this because a band from Scotland in the 70s (Nazareth) named themselves after a line in a song called “The Weight" written by a group called The Band that referenced a town in Pennsylvania called Nazareth decided to write a rock ballad and told me that was the case? (Do you follow all of that? The song “Love Hurts” was written by a band in the 70s called Nazareth. They got that name, Nazareth, out of the line in a song entitled “The Weight” that was written by a band called The Band. That song referenced Nazareth, PA. Whew. That’s some unimportant and confusing mess right there!) But back to the point, do I know that love hurts because some 70s band told me so in the form of a rock ballad? Do I even believe this to be true? Is what they sang and what I’ve quoted legitimate?</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Let’s see…Nope. Yep. Yep.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Nope. I don’t believe it because I’ve heard the song, because I’ve suffered through a portion of the music video, or because I’ve been directly influenced by this band called Nazareth.</p>
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Yep. I still believe it to be true. Love hurts.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Yep. What they sang about is legitimate.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Love really does hurt.</p>
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It is true.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I’m betting that if you have had the joy of experiencing love within your life, you know that fact to be true. Love hurts. Let’s look at some of the ways that love can hurt.</p>
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<ol>
<li style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">It hurts when you love someone and they disappoint you. When they let you down. When they don’t live up to your expectations or do what they had promised to do. Love hurts when those you love come up short. <b>Love hurts in disappointment.</b></li>
<li style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Love hurts when the person or thing that you love is no longer present. When a loved one passes and is no longer there in your day-to-day life. When their seat is empty. When their place at the table is no longer filled. When the phone no longer rings and the letters are no longer mailed and the flowers or chocolate that you used to buy now just sits in the store. <b>Love hurts in loss.</b></li>
</ol>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Love hurts in disappointment, it hurts in loss. Those are both true, but they are both inward looking. Love hurting in those ways focuses inwardly, on ourselves, how we are hurt personally because of something missing or lacking in our lives. That is true, but love hurting is more than that. Love hurts beyond just inward pain from loss or disappointment. Doesn’t it? </p>
<ol start="3">
<li style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Love hurts when we see the people whom we love hurting. When we witness our loved ones get injured, or when <i>they</i> are disappointed, or when <i>they</i> are grieving, or when <i>they</i> suffer, or when <i>the</i>y go through hardships. Love hurts then, too. If you love another and they go through tragedy, it hurts you right along with them. If their family is a wreck or their body is falling apart or they have been mistreated or overlooked or undervalued or any number of negative things that might happen to people, one finds out in those situations as well…love hurts. <b>Love hurts when others are hurting.</b></li>
</ol>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">So, why even bother? If love hurts, why even love?</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Some have asked this question and have chosen to wall themselves off. They argue, “I tried love before and I was hurt. Badly. Deeply. I will never recover. I will never love again.” With a certain perspective, it’s a reasonable argument. After all, why love if it causes so much pain? If it hurts in disappointment, if it hurts in loss, if it hurts when others are hurting, why bother? Couldn’t we just avoid the pain? Couldn’t we just avoid love?</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I suppose that you could, but I hope that we all know somewhere deep inside of us that that option isn’t really a healthy choice. I hope we all have at least some understanding of the fact that we need love and that walling ourselves off from experiencing love is actually more hurtful to us than going through the hurt of love in the first place. Though it is hard, I believe that Alfred Lord Tennyson had it right. “'Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.” The hurt of love is much better than the hurt of no love whatsoever.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Not only that, but take a look at this quote which comes from an authority that I value much more than Tennyson:</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i>“We love because he first loved us.”</i></p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: right;"><i>~1 John 4:19</i></p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Why do we love? Especially if it hurts? Well, if we get down to the nuts and bolts of it, we love because we have experienced love. We love because God loves us. We love because we have felt the love of Jesus. To wall off love, even though it is painful, means that we wall off Jesus. We would be shutting God right out of our lives as we attempt to shut the hurt from love out. Just take a look at what comes a little prior to this:</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i>God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.</i></p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: right;"><i>~1 John 4:16</i></p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><b><i>God is love.</i></b></p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">There you have it. Plain and simple. If we shut out love, we shut out God.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><b><i>Whoever lives in love lives in God.</i></b></p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">If you live in love, you live in God. Not only that, if you live in love, you live in God, and God lives in you.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Why love, even though it hurts? Because God first loved you. Because if you live in love, you will live in God. Because if you live in love, God will live in you.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Love hurts.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I know. I have experienced love, and I have hurt because of it. I have hurt because of disappointment. I have hurt because of loss. I have hurt because those whom I love hurt. I have hurt because of love.</p>
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But even though that is the case, I hope and I pray and I long and I seek to grow in love, to expand in love, that my love might increase even if it means that the possibility of me hurting increases right alongside of it. Why? I have experienced the love of God. I have witnessed and experienced and accepted the love of God through Jesus who bore his own hurt by loving me. I know that Jesus has experienced the hurt of disappointment when I have not behaved in a manner that would honor his name or the gifts that he has given me. I know that Jesus has experienced the hurt of loss as he painfully cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46) I know that he has wept when he saw suffering (John 11:35). I know that Jesus mourned and grieved and suffered, and that is just the start of it. The nails, the beatings, the thorns, the abuse, the ridicule, the spitting, the mocking, the pain, on and on and on and on and on. Jesus hurt because he loves so I will love, even if it hurts.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">It’s a funny thing how a 70s rock band from Scotland was named after a town in Pennsylvania that was mentioned in a song by a group called The Band stumbled onto part of a truth lived out by a shepherd from a place with the same name, Nazareth, almost 2000 years before. Love hurts. Love scars. Love wounds. Love marks.</p>
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For now, that is true. Within this world, at this time, in this present age, that is completely true of love. Love hurts. Just look at Jesus or ask Thomas about seeing where they nails left their marks (John 20:27). But even though Jesus knew it would hurt, he knew he would suffer, he knew the pain that would happen, even though he knew that love hurts, he pressed on. He pressed on into love. <i>“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.” </i>(Hebrews 12:2)</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Friend, in this “month of love”, I pray that you experience love, even though it hurts. Experience love because God is love and because God first loved you.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: right;">~ Pastor Chris</p>Gethsemane & Middletown UM Charge Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17221740416450728007noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-64065575712590806.post-75569121039388467932022-01-04T11:33:00.003-08:002022-01-04T11:33:52.753-08:00A Fresh Start (January 2, 2022)<p><b style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 20px;"><i>Happy New Year!!!! It’s 2022!!!!!</i></b></p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Even as I type those words, it is hard to process, believe or imagine. I know that I say this often, and I’m guessing that you have felt this way too, but whew! Time flies! Part of me is still feeling like we’re back at Y2K. Do you remember that? Some of me feels like we should still be back there, still at that time. But no. Here we are 22 years later. Once again looking at a fresh new year. A great opportunity for a fresh start.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Now this isn’t something that I think about often, but have you ever asked the question, “Why start the new year when we do?” I mean, why January? What is the significance of beginning then? More importantly, why in winter? Wouldn’t it make more sense to start the new year out in June? Think about that for a moment. New year. Right at the start of the summer. Right when the kids are getting out of school. Right when vacations are happening and life is seemingly thriving. Or I could see an argument for beginning a little sooner, like in the spring. We could try starting the new year in April. Why not start the new year then? Spring rolling in. Signs of life beginning. April could be a good place to start, but nope. Winter. January. In the cold, in the quietness, in the stillness, in the dreariness, in the brownness of winter. That’s when we begin the year, and though it may seem to be an odd choice it honestly it works out rather well. After all, there is no better time for a new beginning than right when things are looking their bleakest. Perhaps the folks designing the calendar had it right. Maybe the winter, right at the start of January, is the perfect place to locate the beginning of the year. In this way, the new year falls just when we need to be reminded that there is <b><i>always</i></b> the chance for a new beginning, and winter provides the perfect object lesson for such a reminder…snow.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Ok. Some of you may have gasped just now. It was bad enough that I was talking about winter, but now I’ve really gone and done it by mentioning snow. I know there are those among us who equate even the whispering of that word with swearing. For some, saying “snow” is just like using some type of curse word or worse. Still you have to admit, snow is beautiful…especially when it’s fresh. (Not that salty, brown gunk that gets sprayed about from the roads. That stuff gets pretty yucky looking for sure.) </p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Picture it with me for just a moment…a clear, blue sky, the sun shining, the light of the sun sparkling off of the many flakes of some freshly, fallen snow. The brown and yuck of the dead grass is covered. The barren branches of the trees are full of the weight of winter, and a red cardinal alights at the tip of a branch, singing its song of enjoyment and delight. It’s like I’m describing a Christmas card. Snow can be absolutely beautiful, and I’m not kidding. There is something about the freshly fallen snow that can be breathtaking and glorious, that can point us to God and remind us that Jesus makes all things new.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">For me, if I get down to it, snow is the thing that I like the most about the winter, especially fresh snow, especially fresh snow paired with the idea of starting over. It’s not the snow itself per se, but it is the promise of a fresh start, a new beginning, a time to reset and for life to cover over the deadness and dreariness of the past. Snow becomes the perfect object lesson, teaching us that we can begin again, that we have an opportunity to start over, that we don’t need to be defined by our previous failures or the ways that we haven’t measured up in the past. There is a chance for a new beginning, and we’re reminded of that hope right when we need it the most. Right at the beginning of a new year. Right during the winter.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">You see oftentimes our lives can feel a bit like it looks outside during the middle of a dreary winter’s day. Dead. Dormant. Brown. Yucky. Not a lot of green. Not a lot of life evident. Not a lot of light. We can get bogged down in our sorrows, weighted down in our sin, overwhelmed in our shortcomings. We can look around at our lives and not see a lot of cause for hope. The leaves have all gone. Most of the birds have left. The grass has withered and the flowers have faded. There are times in our lives when we feel like nothing good is happening and there is no cause for hope. But then, the snow comes. The snow comes and makes everything look bright and crisp and new. The snow comes and covers over the brown, the mess, the yuck. The snow comes and things are brighter once again. There is reason to rejoice and hope and look forward to our future. It is as if the past is washed away and a newness settles on the land. The snow comes and there is the hope that the shortcomings will be washed away, that we can have life once more. </p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Yes, friend, perhaps the winter is the best place to put the new year because just as a new year can cause us to consider beginning once again, the snow can come and repeat that message, letting us know that there is opportunity for a fresh start, a new beginning.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">There’s a promise in Isaiah that comes from the Lord regarding new beginnings and snow. It reads,</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i>“Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow;<br />
though they are red as crimson,</i><span style="font-family: Menlo; font-size: 6.7px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><i> </i></span><i>they shall be like wool.”</i> </p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: right;"><i>~Isaiah 1:18</i></p>
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This promise comes at at time when the Israelites were in desperate need of a cleansing and of a new beginning. They had rebelled against the Lord their God. Their guilt was “great” (vs. 1:4), and they were called a “brood of evildoers, children given to corruption.” (vs. 1:4) In fact, their sin was so bad, that the Lord says their feasts, their sacrifices, even their offerings were worthless in His sight. Not only that, but look at this dismal statement in verse 15.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i>When you spread out your hands in prayer, I hide my eyes from you; even when you offer many prayers, I am not listening.</i></p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i>Your hands are full of blood!</i></p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: right;"><i>~Isaiah 1:15</i></p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The Israelites had completely forsaken God, and God was not pleased! Their worship was mere ritual, a set of steps performed without their heart being offered. Their sacrifices, their offerings, their festivities, their celebrations, all of the same. They had come to the point where even their prayers were just an act, not a true reflection of them seeking the Lord. Empty words. Just lip service with no heart towards God and certainly no actions that would please the Lord. Their hands, full of blood, full of murder and wickedness and idolatry and evil, were lifted up to God as a mere gesture instead of a sign of need or repentance. So, God let them know just what he thought of their state. He would not hear such prayer. He would not honor such worship. He would not be impressed with such offerings.</p>
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And yet…</p>
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There was still the hope of a new start, a new beginning. </p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Right into this mess is where we hear that promise.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i>“Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow;<br />
though they are red as crimson,</i><span style="font-family: Menlo; font-size: 6.7px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><i> </i></span><i>they shall be like wool.”</i> </p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: right;"><i>~Isaiah 1:18</i></p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">God promised to cover over their blood-stained hands and allow them to start again. God promised to erase their past, and let them begin once more. Though their sins were like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Snow. The good stuff. Freshly fallen. Pure. White. Not tainted by the salt trucks. Not polluted from the toxins in our air. Crisp. Clean. Pure. Light. So bright that you almost need sunglasses to gaze upon it. Completely covering all that came before. Though you were like scarlet, you will be as white as snow.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">That’s what we need to be reminded of in the winter. That’s what we need to be reminded of at the beginning of the new year. We need to be reminded that God isn’t looking for mere rituals or just words, that God isn’t impressed with the size of our offering or if we manage to do no work on Sundays or if we made it to church on Christmas Eve. What God wants is our hearts. What God wants is our lives. What God wants is our hands lifted up in worship, in surrender, in praise…not just lifted up in some type of meaningless ritual, and certainly not lifted up, covered in blood. </p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">But what if we find ourselves where we have fallen short, where we have just gone through some motions, where we are in need of repentance, where we have blood on our hands and no way to wash it off ourselves?<br />
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Even then, there is hope for a change, hope for a cleansing, hope for a fresh start. What had been promised to the Israelites is now given to us.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i>“Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow;<br />
though they are red as crimson,</i><span style="font-family: Menlo; font-size: 6.7px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><i> </i></span><i>they shall be like wool.”</i> </p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: right;"><i>~Isaiah 1:18</i></p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">What do we need to do to receive this promise? To begin again? To be as white as snow? </p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Here we find an answer:</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i>If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.</i></p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: right;"><i>~1 John 1:9</i></p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">It’s not sacrifice or church attendance or giving or even lifting our hands up in the air while praying (although all of those are good things). It’s repentance. Recognizing where we have gone astray and turning away from those things. But even more than that, a new start requires clinging to Jesus, trusting in the One who is able to make us new, make us right, make us pure, even purer than freshly fallen snow.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Friend, I encourage you now, right here at the start of 2022, right here in winter, to take this opportunity to cling to Jesus. No matter your past, no matter your history, no matter what things have gone on before in your life, He is presenting you with a fresh start, a new opportunity. Please don’t waste it! Confess your shortcomings, confess your failures, look back on what you have done that is not pleasing to God and turn from those things into the arms of Christ. Trust me! It will be even better than the freshest fallen snow.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: right;">~ Pastor Chris</p>Gethsemane & Middletown UM Charge Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17221740416450728007noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-64065575712590806.post-16577545390532150232021-12-01T08:08:00.000-08:002021-12-01T08:08:29.089-08:00Cold Turkey (December 5, 2021)<p><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;">“Something sounds weird.” </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;"> </span></p><p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">
Those were the words that Silas said as he came into our room in the middle of the night. He had woken up, and as he was trying to go back to sleep, he heard an unusual noise.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">“It sounds like some type of siren.”<br />
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First things first. I will admit that I have not always responded well to these types of situations when I’m tired or sleeping. Oftentimes, my first response is to just want to go back to sleep. There’s usually a good chance that I will respond with the classic “Everything’s fine. It’s probably the walls creaking, or maybe it’s the wind outside. Just go back to bed.” I know. I need to work on that. This time, though, my response was different. Instead of my normal incoherent grunting and pleading for more rest, I decided to get up and see what was going on in the house. I crawled out of bed to check the furnace…what Silas suspected was having the issue.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">He was right.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">It wasn’t acting correctly.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">It would start and stop, start and stop, start and stop, but there was no flame. No heat. The furnace was broken. I had to turn the system off so that the noises would stop and we could get some rest…thankful that I could return to my slumber but uncertain of what the next day might hold for the furnace.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Thanksgiving can be a funny thing (at least it can be for me.) We had just celebrated the holiday less than a week before the furnace quit, and it was relatively easy to give thanks on that day. Most of the family was together. More food than we could eat was provided. Games were played. Laughter was shared. Fellowship was had. Pies were sampled. The turkey and ham were delicious and warm, and a lot of things went well. Though life wasn’t free from worries and cares by any means, it wasn’t that hard to see the evidence of good things. It wasn’t that hard to give thanks. Thanks to God for his blessings. Thanks to God for family. Thanks to God for food. Thanks to God for a safe place to sleep with protection from the elements and a furnace to keep us warm.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Yes, thanksgiving is a funny thing because it is something that is asked of us at all times…even on days when we aren’t stuffing our faces full of turkey and mashed potatoes. You remember this classic from Paul, right?</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i>Rejoice always,</i><span style="font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><b><i> </i></b></span><i>pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.</i></p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: right;"><i>~1 Thessalonians 5:16-18</i></p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">As many times as I’ve looked at this verse, it never seems to change. It never seems to say something like “Rejoice when life goes how you want it to go. Pray when you need it. Give thanks when God answers those prayers exactly how you want them to be answered.” To me, that would be much easier. A modified statement like that would more accurately reflect my day-to-day behavior, and I could say “I do that!” But, no. That’s not what God asks of us. That’s not what is said. Instead, we get “Rejoice always.” “Pray continually.” “Give thanks in <b><i>ALL</i></b> circumstances.” </p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Giving thanks is easier when life is “good,” but what do we do when the turkey gets cold? (This is no comment on the literal act of eating cold turkey. I, for one, love a nice, cold turkey sandwich. Little bit of garlic salt. Some Miracle Whip. Delicious.) What do we do when the furnace breaks in the middle of the night or the car won’t run or the pain lingers or we receive that call from the doctor’s office that confirms our worst fears? What do we do as we face persistent hardships or situations that never seem to change? Do we still give thanks then? Do we still give thanks in the midst of the struggle? When life gets more challenging? Are we still able to thank God when the house is empty and the party is over and the pie is gone and we’re faced with some of dark realities of life? Can we celebrate Thanksgiving then?</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I’m reminded as I type this letter that thanksgiving is a directive, and it is also a choice. It is a directive in that God directs us to give thanks. God asks for us to engage in the act of thanksgiving, regardless of the extenuating circumstances. At all times, in all places, no matter what may be happening in our lives, we are told by God to give thanks. That is the directive. Give thanks. At all times. Even though it is a directive, it is also a choice, giving thanks to God is a decision that we make. Though it may be more difficult to give thanks when things don’t go as we hoped or planned, it is still a choice, a decision. Will we choose to give thanks, or will we do something else? Will we choose to heed God’s directive or will we ignore it and go down another path?</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Even now, I am presented with that opportunity to give thanks or to complain. To praise God or to grumble. To me, the opportunity is always there to do either. There are <b><i>ALWAYS</i></b> things for which we can be thankful, and there are <b><i>ALWAYS</i></b> things about which we might complain. To me, life consistently presents the opportunity for either option. The question is more of a matter of how we respond.</p>
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For instance, right at this moment in my life there are things that are less than ideal, less than how I wish they would be, but there are also things for which I am incredibly grateful. That is reality. How will I respond? That is the question.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Will I choose to grumble because my fingers are cold, that the furnace isn’t fixed yet? Or will I be thankful that I still have a place to rest my head, that there are people in my life that care about our family and that even now someone is working on getting that furnace situation rectified? Will I choose to focus on the fact that my car is once again sitting in need of repair, or will I be thankful that we have another one to drive or that we have vehicles in the first place? (And just to be clear, that furnace and car business are minor. There are other, more difficult challenges that we are facing that present the same type of choices just on a larger scale.)<br />
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Will I choose to give thanks?</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Or won’t I?</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Will I follow the directive of God?</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Or won’t I?</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The Thanksgiving Holiday has passed. Just like that. In the blink of an eye, it was over. The Advent season is here, but the directive remains. Give thanks.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Give thanks for the goodness of God that may be found in the land of the living. (Psalm 27:13)</p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Give thanks for the peace of God that surpasses all understanding. (Philippians 4:6)</p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Give thanks for the joy of God that is our strength. (Nehemiah 8:10)</p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Give thanks for the hope of God that will not disappoint. (Hebrews 11:1)</p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Give thanks for the love of God that sacrificially paid the debt that we owe. (John 3:16)</p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Give thanks for the power of God that is perfected in weakness. (2 Corinthians 12:9)</p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Give thanks for the wisdom of God that is higher than our own. (1 Corinthians 1:25)</p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Give thanks for the ways of God that are not like ours. (Isaiah 55:8)</p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Give thanks for the nature of God who alone is holy. (Revelation 4:8)</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">We could go on.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Give thanks.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Period.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">At all times. In all places. Whether you feel like it or not.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Give thanks.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Friend, I don’t know the troubles that you are facing. I don’t know the hardships in your life. I don’t know the difficulties that you are walking through, the pain that you are feeling, the heartache that comes on especially strong during this time of year. I don’t know what is broken, or what needs mending, or what hopes have faded away. I do not know any of those things, but I do know this. God asks for you to give thanks. Even in the midst of all of those challenging times. Would you heed his directive and choose to respond in that manner? Would you choose to give thanks?</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">At times, this decision may seem counterintuitive. It may seem like the incorrect choice. We might ask, “Why should I give thanks now? After all, nothing is going how I’d like for it to go.” Even so, give thanks, and trust that God knows what He is doing in making this request. We may even find out that there is some personal benefit in following God’s advice. </p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Paul says it this way in his letter to the Philippians:</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i>Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! </i><span style="font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><b><i> </i></b></span><i>Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. </i><span style="font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><b><i> </i></b></span><i>Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. </i><span style="font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><b><i> </i></b></span><i>And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.</i></p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: right;"><i>~Philippians 4:6-7</i></p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I don’t know how you feel about that passage, but that sounds like a pretty good payout to me. The peace of God transcending all understanding, guarding my heart and mind in Christ Jesus. That sure seems like something that would be helpful to experience in my life…especially whenever the turkey is cold and the furnace is broken. Peace even in the midst of those situations? Sign me up! Still, there is participation that is asked for on our end, there is a part of us to play, and at the heart of it is choosing to give thanks.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Give thanks.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Give thanks.</p>
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Give thanks.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: right;">~ Pastor Chris</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">P.S. If you haven’t spent some time thanking God, why not spend a moment to do so now? Say a prayer and thank the Lord. Go over the list above, look up those Bible passages. Thank God for those things. You can do it! Give thanks.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">P.P.S. Though the furnace and car were broken as I typed, they have now been fixed! Yes, I am thanking God for those blessings as well!</p>Gethsemane & Middletown UM Charge Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17221740416450728007noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-64065575712590806.post-18260932735001312602021-11-02T13:14:00.003-07:002021-11-02T13:14:36.415-07:00Fall-ing (November 7, 2021)<p><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;">Fall is upon us once again!</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;">Believe it or not, we are in full swing.</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;">November came quickly!</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;">(At least that’s my impression.)</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;">Like it or not, there’s no stopping fall…or winter at this point.</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;">It is getting dark at a much earlier time.</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;">The air is crisp and cool.</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;">Birds are beginning to bail out and head down to Florida or somewhere warm.</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;">Some “snowbirds” are doing the same…you know those folks, the fortunate (or unfortunate depending on your perspective) people that migrate just like the birds and head down south for the winter.</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;">The leaves are changing colors.</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;">Pumpkin spice is available and everywhere.</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;">Football is on television.</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;">Some people, including myself, are wondering, “What on earth happened to the summer?”</span></p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Now I don’t know if you are a fan of the fall season or not, but there are a lot of things that are remarkable about this time of year. Let me just name a few: Pumpkin pies. Pumpkin rolls. Pumpkin cake. </p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Sorry. I got a little sidetracked for just a minute. Let me branch out and name a few more: Apple pies. Apple tarts. Apple cider. There, you see? I’m open to some diversity in these writings. </p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Though I am a fan of yummy food, that actually isn’t what I am hoping that we would focus on today. Instead, I want for us to consider the leaves.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Remarkable, right?</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Fall is the time of year when the leaves really begin to show off their splendor. Vibrant reds. Bright golds. Yellows. Oranges. So many different shades and colors. Walking or driving through an area where the fall leaves are on full display is truly a sight to behold. For me, the leaves, especially during this season, are a visual reminder of the beauty and majesty of God. They point me to a remarkable Creator who designed the trees in such a way that they would produce a marvelous display. I’m grateful for their beauty, and I’m thankful that they point me to God, the Creator of all of their wonder and majesty. I hope they do the same for you.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Not only do the fall leaves point me to God because of their beauty, but they also point me to God because of their death.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">During this time of year, leaf after leaf after leaf is in the process of dying. Some take a little bit longer and hang onto their branches for just a bit more, but each of these leaves that had turned such bright colors are in the process of death. They will fall from their branches. They will turn brown. They will die. Sure, some might get raked into a pile for kids to jump and play in for a while, but that’s it. They will be no more. Decomposition is coming. That’s the end result of fall for all of these leaves. Winter. (Otherwise known as death.)</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Kind of depressing isn’t it? </p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Such remarkable beauty. Here for a moment and then gone. Such vibrancy. Burning brightly and then snuffed out. Such wonder and splendor. On display for just an instant and then never to be seen again.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">And yet, that’s the nature of the season. That’s the nature of fall. That’s the nature of the leaves. They are in the process of dying. Some are already dead.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Now, if this process stopped right there, it would almost be too depressing to even mention. Fortunately, we know that the process continues. Fortunately, we know that decomposition isn’t actually the end. Instead, it is part of the beginning. In dying, in decomposing, the leaves are actually contributing to life. In their death, they offer themselves to life, to be used for the nourishment of the trees through the soil. Yes, even in their death, we can see life. Even in their brevity, we can see the hope of eternity through Jesus. Even in their decomposition, we can see the provision for the future.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">To me, this is even more remarkable than their initial beauty. It is even more amazing than their appearance of splendor. Life out of death.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Life out of death.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Sometimes, I say or think about that phrase so often that I fear that it loses some of its power, but when you consider it, that concept is truly remarkable. </p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Life out of death.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Jesus (who is the epitome of life coming out of death…just consider the miracle of Easter for a few moments) talks about this process. Look at what he teaches:</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i>“Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.”</i></p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: right;"><i>~John 12:24</i></p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Ok. He’s not talking about the leaves. He’s talking about a kernel of wheat, a seed. But the idea is there. Life out of death. The seed must die to itself in order to produce many more seeds. This is pretty simple to understand. A seed that is never planted will never turn into anything other than a seed. Those pumpkins that I like made into yummy things would have never become pumpkins without a seed dying. Same deal goes for the apple. If I want to have apples turned into a pie, I first need some apple seeds to die at some point. We get this idea. (It’s a longer route, but we can also see this idea evidenced in the leaves decomposing to nourish the soil that nourishes the tree that produces more leaves.) But just so we don’t think that this idea of life out of death is restricted to seeds or to wheat, Jesus continues:</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i>“Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.”</i></p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: right;"><i>~John 12:25</i></p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Uh oh. That continuation stings a bit. Apparently Jesus isn’t really talking about seeds after all. Instead, he’s talking about me, about you. If we really wish to see life, life eternal, we’re called to drop to the ground and die. We’re called to die to ourselves in order that we might experience life through Christ. Jesus even says we must hate our lives in this world so that we might keep them for eternal life. (This is not a call to be joyless. Nor is it a call to walk around saying that we hate everything. Instead, it is a call to put Jesus and others above ourselves. Paul says it this way: <span style="font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><b><i>“</i></b></span><i>Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves,</i><span style="font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><b><i> </i></b></span><i>not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.” Philippians 2:3-4) </i></p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">We must die so that we might live.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Life out of death.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">We must embrace the idea of “fall-ing.” Just like the leaves, we must release our grip on the branches and fall. We must release the grip that we have on this world and fall to our deaths.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">This is an incredibly difficult thing. I don’t think that we’re naturally called to die to ourselves. Like the leftover brown leaf that stubbornly hangs on through the winter, some of us want to cling to the branches of this world until we can cling no longer. And yet, we are called to do something different. The plan, the process, the design put in place by our Creator asks for something more. We are asked to fall like a leaf or a kernel of wheat and die so that life might spring forth. </p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">For me, the leaves stand out as a vibrant reminder of what God has asked of my life. Value Jesus above myself. Put the needs of others before my own. Lay down my life in this world so that I might truly live.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">It’s a hard ask, a difficult reminder, but I’m thankful that I am not asked to do this on my own. (I honestly couldn’t.) Instead, I have not been left by myself but have been given help and a promise. </p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Christ in me. </p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">After all, Jesus made this promise:</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i>And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever — the Spirit of truth.</i></p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: right;"><i>~John 14:16-17</i></p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">We have the promise of the Holy Spirit who will lead us into truth, who will <b><i>help us</i></b> and be with us forever, who will enable us to die to ourselves. The very Spirit of God helping us, assisting us, being with us forever! We are not asked to complete this task alone. Not only that, but we have a further promise of life found in Romans.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i>But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. </i><span style="font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><b><i> </i></b></span><i>And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you. </i></p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: right;"><i>~Romans 8:10-11</i></p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Life out of death.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Not because of my strength, not because of my abilities, but because of the righteousness of Christ. The Spirit of God living in me, allowing me to be in the process of “fall-ing”. Dying to myself. Living for Christ.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Friend, this fall, would you embrace “fall-ing” in your own life? Would you embrace this call of Jesus to die?</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">No, it won’t be easy. No, it doesn’t sound fun, but you are not alone in your efforts. The Spirit of God has been promised to you as well. The Advocate who will help you and lead you into all truth awaits your answer. Would you die to yourself that you might truly live? Would you fall into the arms of Christ and trust that He will raise you to life?</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I pray that you would and that in doing so, your death might produce life that is even more abundant, even more vibrant, even more remarkable than you could ever imagine. </p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: right;">~ Pastor Chris</p>Gethsemane & Middletown UM Charge Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17221740416450728007noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-64065575712590806.post-69918773238640720592021-10-06T14:23:00.002-07:002021-10-06T14:23:15.912-07:00Cubing (October 10, 2021)<p><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;">Are you familiar with a 3x3x3 puzzle?</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;">Or how about cubing?</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;">Speedcubing?</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;"> </span></p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Not ringing a bell just yet?</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">How about Ernõ Rubik? </p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The Rubik’s Cube?</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">With over 450 million cubes sold since its invention in 1974, the Rubik’s Cube is a well-known, often loved (often hated), iconic puzzle. Simple looking yet incredibly difficult to solve the Rubik’s Cube has challenged and frustrated millions of people for over 40 years. What started as an object lesson for architecture students turned into a mind bending challenge for young and old alike. Who would have guessed that this cube, once deemed to be unsolvable, would produce the likes of Yusheng Du (the current world record holder, solving a cube in 3.47 seconds)? Or a robot that solved it in 0.38 seconds?</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The Rubik’s Cube and those who solve it truly are remarkable.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Now, let’s be clear. I’m no Rubik’s Cube expert. (The majority of the above information came from the Rubik’s Cube website and a quick google search on how many have been sold.) In all honesty, I can only remember solving a Rubik’s Cube a handful of times in my youth…and that was with a book that told me how to do it…and it took quite some time. I wasn’t even in the same county as Mr. Du let alone the same ballpark. It has never been one of my strengths; however, it has recently become one of Silas’s. Within the last couple of weeks Silas has taken up the idea of solving the Rubik’s Cube. In fact, he has watched some videos, memorized some different approaches, learned some algorithms, and he can solve them. It’s very impressive. Hand him a cube all mixed up, and he will hand it back to you solved…without a book, without referring to a video again. He knows enough to solve it, and it is awesome. Not only that, but he has set a personal best of a little over a minute. He may never go to world record speed (honestly…I don’t want for him to do that. It takes an insane amount of time and dedication), but we are proud of him, and it has gotten me to think about the Rubik’s Cube once again. </p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">To me, I find them fascinating. The Rubik’s Cube is a unique combination of simplicity and complexity. Simple idea. Six colors. Six sides. Make the colors match. Complex solution. How do I move the pieces around to get them to line back up correctly? This is especially challenging when you consider that there are 43 quintillion (that’s 43 with 18 zeros after it) possible configurations. (Just as an aside…any cube can be solved with at most 20 moves. 20! It took 30 years, a group of mathematicians, and some supercomputers to figure this out, but if you make every move perfectly, that is the most that you would take for any of those 43 quintillion possibilities.)</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Yep! The Rubik’s Cube is pretty neat, but I realize that I’ve reached a point in the devotional where your personal interest in these things might be waning, and you are wondering what might be the point of all of this. Hopefully I will get to said point within 20 moves. (Get it?)</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Here’s where I’m headed for today…</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Whenever I was guided through solving a Rubik’s cube, it typically started with solving one side. This was something that I could do on my own, and then the guide would pick up from there. I would solve the white side, and then the book would tell me how to do the rest.</p>
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The problem?</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Solving the remainder of the cube always involved “messing up” the side that had been solved. There was never a way to move the unsolved portions of the cube around while keeping the “solved” side intact. You always, always had to move the solved side around.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">In my own, unguided attempts, this was never a maneuver that I wanted to do. Instead, I had the attitude “I solved the white! Why can’t I keep it solved and get the rest in place?” (Or why can’t I just pull the stickers off and just put them back to where they belong?) I never wanted to go “backwards.” I never wanted to mess up what I had started. Forward progress was all that I wanted to make, but this was impossible…at least if I wanted to move beyond just solving one side.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Life sometimes is like that too. If we go about solving all of our own problems, looking for solutions with the hopes of getting our lives “in order”, we can only get so far. Sure, we might get one aspect lined up. Maybe we will solve the yellow side and have it looking great. But we will never be able to solve the whole cube that way. We will never be able to align all of the different aspects of our life or get it all put together. In fact, sometimes (or perhaps most of the time), true solving will require some steps that might seem to be in the wrong direction at the time that we are taking them.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Paul was a person who worked hard to achieve things. If life were a Rubik’s Cube, Paul worked hard to solve it. In fact, he worked so hard that he had a side or two solved (or at least he thought that he did). </p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Check out this self-description that Paul gives in his letter to the Philippians:</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i>If someone else thinks they have reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: </i><span style="font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><b><i> </i></b></span><i>circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; </i><span style="font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><b><i> </i></b></span><i>as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless.</i></p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: right;"><i>~Philippians 3:4-6</i> </p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">He had done it. He had solved a side. He had lived a life that was strict, regimented, dedicated to all of the “right” things. Circumcised at just the right time. Born from just the right family. Passionate about the law, the rule of God as he understood it. Willing to snuff out any type of opposition, even to the point of persecuting those who would believe something outside of what was acceptable. In his estimation, Paul was “faultless” in regards to righteousness based on the law. </p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">However, that was not enough. That was not sufficient. In fact, solving the cube required that what Paul had built up be torn down.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Paul says this in verse 7:</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i>But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. </i></p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: right;"><i>~Philippians 3:7</i></p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The “victories”, the “successes”, his ability to solve a side of the Rubik’s cube were now not so important. Once Jesus entered into Paul’s life, everything changed. No longer was he pursuing righteousness on his own power, according to his own strength. What he had considered to be “gains” previously, were now considered to be losses.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">He continues:</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i>What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ </i><span style="font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><b><i> </i></b></span><i>and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith.</i></p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: right;"><i>~Philippians 3:8-9</i></p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Paul’s previous efforts? His righteousness? His birthright? Relying on his circumcision? All garbage. Trash. Christ was so far superior that he was willing to throw away anything else. He only wanted that which was used by Jesus in building him up. Paul was ready to have the aligned side of the cube that he had solved completely scrambled in order that the large picture might come together in his life. Did Jesus want to mess up the white side that he had worked so long in solving? No problem! Twist and turn away! Just get me closer to you, Jesus.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Sometimes in our lives we will have things that we think are “solved,” maybe this is a particular attitude, maybe this is a way of doing things, maybe this is the thought that we can make it on our own good, our own righteousness. Then, we meet Jesus, and he seems to turn everything around. He keeps twisting and turning and moving things around in our lives so that we can begin to wonder…is this working? Am I moving towards a solution? Is my life progressing? Initially, we may even think, “No!!!! I had that side solved! Can’t we just move the other things? Can’t we just remove some stickers and place them in the right spots? Isn’t there another way?”<br />
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My prayer, friend, is that we will learn to trust Jesus, that we would learn that there is immeasurable satisfaction to be found in Christ that will not be found anywhere else. My prayer, friend, is that we would trust that Jesus knows how to “cube”, he knows how to solve, he is an expert in cubing.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">So, here’s my question, here’s my challenge. Are you ready to begin (or continue) to submit your life into the hands of Christ? Even if it feels like he is “messing it all up”, even if it feels like he is twisting and turning you about, even if you like how you had done things in the past? After all, Jesus is the Master at solving life’s problems and guiding us to where we need to be. Though it may not be “world record time”, we can trust that God will move us in just the right way at just the right time so that all of our sides are perfectly aligned in his plan.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: right;">~ Pastor Chris</p>Gethsemane & Middletown UM Charge Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17221740416450728007noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-64065575712590806.post-62491458527897687122021-09-01T12:37:00.003-07:002021-09-01T12:37:53.140-07:00A New Season! (September 5, 2021)<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">It’s September. It’s September? It’s September!!!</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I know that we have talked about this before, but the fact remains. Time moves quickly. Really quickly. One moment you’re packing away all of your winter clothing and are excited about what lies ahead in the spring and summer. The next moment you’re dreading the fact that it is soon time to pull out all of that winter stuff because the summer is wrapping up. Still, no matter how you feel about it, no matter how quickly it has seemed to transpire, the seasons change. The dates flip over. Time passes. It seems to pass quickly.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Right now we are in a time of transition from one season to the next. No, summer hasn’t officially ended and will not do so according to the calendar until September 22. Regardless, the shift is taking place. The nights are getting a little longer. The days are getting a little shorter. The temperature has been showing signs of decreasing. Plus, there is the telltale sign of fall approaching…people taking pictures of their kids on the first day of school. If you have social media, you can’t miss them.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">“Look at little Billy as he gets ready for 9th grade! Aren’t you so glad that he finally got that front tooth?” (And then there’s the comparison picture of Billy ready for the first day of kindergarten without the tooth.)</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">“Look at our Sally! Still wearing those princess dresses!” (And there’s the picture collage…12 years of Sally starting the first day of school in a Belle dress.)</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">“I don’t think Junior wants to go to school this year.” (Of course, there’s the video of 16-year-old, 250 pound Junior clinging to his Mom’s legs as she drags him to the bus.)</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">If that weren’t enough to convince you, if you need more evidence than the school pictures, please don’t forget about pumpkin spice. That stuff is back. In full force. It’s not even Labor Day. Wait a moment, please! Hold off on the pumpkin spice! I’m not ready!</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Yep. </p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">We’re in that transition. Summer is winding up. Fall is beginning. 16 months of winter are ahead.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">This is nothing new. We’ve been here before. Still, it is good to be reminded. It is good to remember. It is good to reflect on the same truth at different seasons and different years of our lives. With that said, here we go. Let’s remember the Byrds’ song once again…oh wait, that’s a Bible passage. Let’s look at that instead.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i>There is a time for everything,</i></p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i>and a season for every activity under the heavens:</i></p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i>a time to be born and a time to die,</i></p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i>a time to plant and a time to uproot,</i></p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i>a time to kill and a time to heal,</i></p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i>a time to tear down and a time to build,</i></p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i>a time to weep and a time to laugh,</i></p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i>a time to mourn and a time to dance,</i></p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i>a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,</i></p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i>a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,</i></p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i>a time to search and a time to give up,</i></p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i>a time to keep and a time to throw away,</i></p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i>a time to tear and a time to mend,</i></p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i>a time to be silent and a time to speak,</i></p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i>a time to love and a time to hate,</i></p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i>a time for war and a time for peace.</i></p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: right;"><i>~ Ecclesiastes 3:1-8</i></p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">A time, a season. Let’s add a few. (Not that we’re actually adding anything to the Bible…we’re just exploring a few more ideas to emphasize a point. I’m certainly not saying that God fell short on the list provided.)</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">a time for summer and a time for winter,</p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">a time for warmth and a time for cold,</p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">a time for rain and a time for snow,</p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">a time for swimming pools and a time for school,</p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">a time for consistency and a time for change,</p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">a time for blueberry pie and a time for pumpkin pie,</p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">a time for lemonade and a time for hot chocolate,</p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">a time for ice cream sandwiches and a time for Christmas cookies.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">OK. I can see why these were left off of the list. They don’t quite have the same power, the same emphasis, but it is still a bit fun to think about some other things that have seasons. (Just as a side exercise, what would you add? A time for iced cappuccino and a time for Nutella hot coffee? A time for ____ and a time for ____. What would you add?)</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">As I read this list, a couple of things strike me. </p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">One, I have a preference in most cases.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I prefer birth over death, planting over ripping out, healing over killing, etc., etc., etc. In most of these contrasts, in most of these seasons, in most of these times, I prefer one over the other. Granted, there are some that are a harder choice (blueberry vs. pumpkin pie), but for the most part, I like one end of the statement better than the other. This causes me to question, “Why must I experience both sides?” If I were the one to set this whole thing up, if I were the one to design how life worked, I’d be tempted to just keep my preferences. I’d rather just say that all will be peace, all will be healing, all will be mending together, all will be summer and swimming pools and ice cream sandwiches and lemonade. Nobody asked me. Besides, that is not the nature of the world in which we live. This is not reality as we know it. Not only that, but sometimes the greatest work, the most significant advances in our faith or in our relationship with Jesus don’t take place in those times we prefer. Sometimes, they take place right in the midst of the more difficult seasons.</p>
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We may not wish for the winter. We may not prefer the ripping out or the giving up or the throwing away or the war. Regardless, in those moments, in those times, in those seasons, there is still reason to hope, there is still reason to trust, there is still reason to press on. Why? Because we know that God is at work. We know that God is at work in the stillness, in the dryness, in the harshness. We know that sometimes the greatest growth takes place in us through seasons of hardship and trial. Remember this passage from James?</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i>Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds,</i><span style="font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><b><i> </i></b></span><i>because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. </i><span style="font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><b><i> </i></b></span><i>Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.</i> </p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: right;">~ <i>James 1:2-4</i></p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Sometimes God uses the more difficult seasons in our lives to produce things that the “easy” seasons would have never produced. Plus, we know those seasons will also be temporary. Time will keep passing and we will once again be looking at spring and summer. Most importantly? Through each season we can trust God.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">That’s the second thing that strikes me (well maybe it should be the first thing, but that’s another conversation). We can trust God. In times of feast, in times of famine. In times when we have much, in times when we have little. In times of laughter, in times of crying. In times of victory, in times of defeat. In all times, in all seasons, we have a good, a loving, a kind, a holy God in Whom we can place our trust. We can trust that God will be true to His promises. We can trust “…that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” (Ephesians 1:6) We can trust “…that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28) We can trust that “He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?” (Romans 8:32)</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Friend, we can trust God.</p>
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The changes coming may not be our preference, they may not operate according to how we would like to see things go. We might wish that we could remain in a perpetual 78º climate with no bugs, no rain, a heated swimming pool, all of our favorite recreational activities close at hand, endless supplies of lemonade and plates full of a variety of sweets with all of our friends and family right with us. No cleaning, no laundry, no dishes, no dusting, no picking up, no making the bed, no worries, no cares, no frets, no fears, no school. We might long to live in such a place, but that isn’t reality. Such a place does not exist on this side of heaven. Plus, we wouldn’t be content, we wouldn’t be happy if we were there apart from God. If God is calling for us to walk through winter, we are much better off to walk through that winter than to try to escape it or to keep pining away for summer to come once again. If God is calling us to experience fall, we are much better off to look for the blessings that fall might bring, the changing of the leaves, the crispness of the air, the pumpkin cake than we are to try to escape the fall and move quickly into spring.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">It’s September. </p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Fall is approaching. Summer is leaving.</p>
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This is the reality. </p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">What remains to be seen…How are you going to trust God in this new season? How are you going to grow in your relationship with Christ? God has something in store for us. We can trust in the Lord. I, for one, can’t wait to see God is going to move, to act, to bring forth good out of this season as well as the next.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">“To everything, turn, turn, turn…”</p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><span style="text-align: right;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><span style="text-align: right;"><span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span>~ Pastor Chris</span> </p>Gethsemane & Middletown UM Charge Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17221740416450728007noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-64065575712590806.post-34785938968393617592021-08-25T13:15:00.000-07:002021-08-25T13:15:00.712-07:00Handsome Trig (August 29, 2021)<p><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;">Have you heard of the handsome trig?</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;"> </span></p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Personally, I had not. In fact, if you had asked me such a question, I would wonder if you were talking about some type of math equation. “Trigonometry? I forgot all about that years ago!” Or perhaps I would have thought that you were maybe being cute, referring to one of your grandchildren or maybe a nephew that you like. “You’ve seen my handsome trig haven’t you? He’s adorable!” Maybe you have some kind of code, some type of slang for your family of which I am not familiar. You see your grandson, pinch his cheeks and say “What a handsome trig you are!!!”<br />
<br />
Handsome trig?<br />
<br />
Nope. Never heard of it.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The other day I saw one. A handsome trig. There it was right in front of me as I got out of my car, and it caused me to stop for a minute. I wasn’t quite sure what I was looking at, but I wanted to see it longer. I wanted to pause for a moment to observe. I wanted to take note of its characteristics. Its size. Its shape. Its color. If it made noise, I wanted to hear it. As it moved, I wanted to watch it. I wanted to know all about it because once it left, I knew what I was going to do next…Google it. I had to know what this thing was all about.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Let me describe it for you. Small. Insect. Brightly colored, red head and thorax (that’s the middle part of the insect…in between the head and the abdomen). Black abdomen. Green legs that looked like a cricket or a grasshopper’s legs.</p>
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What a weird thing (at least to me). It seemed all mixed up, but there it was. Red head. Black body. Green cricket legs. Like a kid’s coloring book who didn’t want Jiminy to look too boring. How could such a thing be? Aren’t crickets usually brown or black or yellowish or maybe a bit green? Red and black and green? All on one cricket? Never heard of them. Hadn’t seen such a thing.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I looked it up, and there it was. Google said it’s called a handsome trig.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">As it turns out, handsome trigs aren’t that unusual. They aren’t that uncommon. I wasn’t familiar with them, but apparently they are a thing. Handsome trigs. Otherwise known as red-headed bush crickets. Who knew? (Ok. Maybe you did. Not me.)</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Maybe you’re not that into insects (I’m not really either), and maybe you would think that the name of this one should be the “ugly trig,” but seeing it reminded me of an important practice that we should develop in our life…the practice of noticing. </p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Sometimes in life there will be things that are presented to us, things that God wants to reveal to us or show us, but we have to become familiar and comfortable with noticing things. </p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I have walked by the bush that held the handsome trig a ton of times without ever seeing a bug like that. It is right beside where I park my car. Typically I don’t see these bugs there. The other day was different. One was there. Now granted, it could have been there before, but this time I saw it. I noticed it. My eyes became aware that there was something unusual present. I was able to see this weird bug with a red head, a black body and green legs.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">It is an important practice to develop. We need to notice things.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Take, for instance, Moses.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i>Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. </i><span style="font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><b><i> </i></b></span><i>There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up.</i></p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: right;"><i>~ Exodus 3:1-2</i></p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">If you know the story of Moses and are familiar with the story of Israel’s deliverance, you know that life is about to change for Moses in a dramatic way. The burning bush is the time that God speaks to Moses and begins to direct Moses into how he should lead God’s people to the Promised Land. (If you aren’t familiar with this story, pull out your Bible and start in Exodus chapter 1. It’s good stuff.) </p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">BEFORE life could change for Moses,</p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">BEFORE God would speak to Moses from that bush,</p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">BEFORE God would use Moses to lead the people out of Egypt and to the Promised Land,</p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">BEFORE Moses was established as a central character in the history of Israel and in Christian faith,</p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">BEFORE all of that happened, do you know what Moses did?</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">He noticed.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">He noticed something out of the ordinary.</p>
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“There is a bush that is burning, but it isn’t burning.”<br />
“There is a bush that burns, but it is not burnt up.”<br />
“There is something remarkable.”<br />
“There is something extraordinary.”<br />
“There is something.”<br />
<br />
Moses noticed.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">“But Pastor Chris, I would notice if a bush was burning but was not being consumed. I would notice if something was on fire but not being burnt up.”</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I pray that is true, but let me ask you…are you noticing God in your life now? Do you see God in your day-to-day life regularly? Do you witness God’s handiwork? Do you marvel at God’s creation? Can you see the fingerprints of God in what is around you? Have you noticed?</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i>"The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.”</i></p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: right;"><i>~ Psalms 19:1</i></p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">God has created. God has made. God has designed. God has crafted. God continues to do all of these things, and if we pay attention, if we notice, we can see that God’s creation points back to Him. We can see that God’s handiwork points our attention back to God. If we notice, we can see God through His work.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Noticing is important. It is important that we notice. It is a practice that I want for us to be in the habit of doing. I want for us to be a people who notice.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Beyond noticing, do you know what else is important?</p>
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Action.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Change of course. Change of behavior. Maybe we need to stop what we are doing to observe, to listen, to examine, to see.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I could have glanced at the bug and thought, “huh that’s strange” and continued on my way. By acting, by stopping, by observing, by examining, by seeing, I was able to experience more. I was able to discover more. I was able to have my world expanded further so that it now includes the handsome trig, the red-headed bush cricket.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I know. That’s not really that big of a deal. I could have functioned just fine without that particular knowledge, but what if this was a one-in-a-million, extremely rare, endangered insect? What if catching this bug would have been the chance to restore some lost ecosystem? What if there was more? After we notice, action is often required.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Let’s return to Moses for our example.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i>So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up.”</i></p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: right;"><i>~ Exodus 3:3</i></p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Moses noticed. Then Moses acted. Moses went over to see what was happening. He went to see. He asked, “What’s the deal, yo?” Moses didn’t just continue on his way, he didn’t just keep on minding the flock and not worrying about the bush. Instead he noticed and then he acted. Maybe it was nothing. Maybe it was just a red-headed bush cricket, but maybe it was more.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Turns out it was more.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">So much more.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i>When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!”</i><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: right;"><i>~ Exodus 3:4</i></p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The rest, as they say, is history. This experience at the bush began a conversation between Moses and God that set Moses down a path that forever changed the course of humankind. </p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Why? <br />
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Because Moses noticed and responded.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Don’t get me wrong. God was the initiator of this entire endeavor. God acted first. God set the bush on fire without it being consumed, but then God waited. God waited to see if Moses would notice. God waited to see if Moses would respond. Once Moses did those two things, God called him to a journey, a world, a purpose that Moses would have never seen or experienced. </p>
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Can you imagine if Moses didn’t notice?</p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Can you imagine if Moses didn’t go over to see what was happening, if he didn’t respond?</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">We’d be telling the stories of some other dude, some other guy who God used to accomplish the plans that He had set. Moses wouldn’t even be a thought in our heads.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">So, friend, I ask you, are you noticing? Are you seeing the things of God in your life? If so, here’s the follow up question: are you then responding? Are you acting upon what you have been seeing?<br />
<br />
If not, would you pray this prayer:</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">“God, open my eyes that I may see You. Open my ears that I might hear You. Open my heart that I might love You. Help me to notice You, Lord, and help me to respond. Help me be open to You and responsive to You.” Amen.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: right;">~ Pastor Chris</p>Gethsemane & Middletown UM Charge Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17221740416450728007noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-64065575712590806.post-39182618876250606732021-08-18T12:24:00.000-07:002021-08-18T12:24:13.310-07:00What Are You Feeding? (August 22, 2021)<p><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;">A little while back I shared a devotional about feeding birds at our house.</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;">In particular, I talked about the joy that a crow brought me whenever it was eating the bread that I had discarded outside.</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;">(In case you never read it or if it isn’t ringing a bell, you are able to access all of the prior devotionals on either church website.</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;">If you don’t have internet access and would like to receive that particular devotional again, let me know and I will mail you a copy.)</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;">Anyway, in that devotional I mentioned my practice of discarding some of our food outside. </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;"> </span></p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Here’s how it works: </p>
<ul>
<li style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Bread that has developed some mold in spots? Put it out by the field. The birds will eat it. I might get to enjoy seeing said birds in the view from our window.</li>
<li style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Chips that have gone stale? Put them out by the field. The birds will eat them. I might get to enjoy seeing said birds in the view from our window.</li>
<li style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Soggy popcorn? Put it out by the field…..you get the idea.</li></ul>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">In general, we try not to waste a lot of food. However, it happens. An open bag of chips find their way into the back of the pantry. A loaf of bread gets partially eaten and forgotten. Some dinner rolls get hard or rubbery. Popcorn sits out too long before it is consumed. Sometimes there are things within our house that are past the point of enjoyment for us to eat. I wish that weren’t the case, but that is the reality. When that happens, instead of throwing the food into our trashcan I prefer to throw it outside to let it be enjoyed by an animal or to naturally decompose. Typically the birds come and peck at the bread, and this gives me an opportunity to do a little bird watching out of our window. For me, it is a win-win-win out of a less than ideal situation. The food is out of our house and not filling up our garbage can. Birds get to eat it. I get to see the birds. Everyone wins.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Good plan, right? </p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I think so too, but it isn’t foolproof. It isn’t flawless. There are some issues. One issue in particular is the fact that I cannot control what happens to the food once it is laid outside. I have no real say-so in terms of what gets to enjoy our spoils. I intend for birds to eat it, but there is no guarantee that will happen.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The other day we popped some popcorn. It was delicious. Salty. Buttery. We each ate a lot. The problem? We popped more than we could eat or try to give away. Each of us ate popcorn until it was coming out of our ears and then we asked other people if they wanted some. Still, there was popcorn left. Popcorn that none of us could eat. Popcorn that would get soggy and gross pretty quickly. I knew there was only one thing to do with the leftover popcorn.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Feed it to the birds.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Outside it went. Into the typical spot that I dump these types of things. I was curious to see if I might get the chance to see a bird or two enjoying a nicely puffed piece of popcorn.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I didn’t. Instead, I saw something else.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">A big, fat groundhog.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Enjoying the popcorn that was meant for the birds.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Now, some of you might think “Awwww!!!! How cute!!!! You got to see Punxsutawney Phil!!!! You got to witness Phil in his natural habitat. You must have been so excited to see a groundhog instead of some old ordinary bird!”</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Nope.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Not so much.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">You see, I know that this particular groundhog is not Punxsutawney Phil. No man in a top hat will be watching to see if this thing sees its shadow. Television cameras will not descend to monitor this thing’s behaviors. No. Punxsutawney Phil this was not. It was his distant cousin thrice removed (at least). This was the far more sinister New Alexandria Ned.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Perhaps you haven’t heard of New Alexandria Ned, but let me tell you…he is a menace. Big. Fat. Intimidating. He enjoys digging holes underneath your deck. He might gnaw on your deck posts…just for the thrill of it. Wires underneath your car? A favorite afternoon snack of Ned’s. He burrows in places that you don’t want him to be, and he taunts you. Incessantly. “Look at this giant hole that I dug in your yard! I hope you twist your ankle by stepping in it! Look at the way that I’m chewing on this wood! Look at this mess I am making!” </p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">He even recites pathetic poetry.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span> </span>Let me introduce myself</p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span> </span>I’m New Alexandria Ned</p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span> </span>I’m the meanest groundhog around </p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span> </span>…or so it’s been said</p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span> </span>I’ll dig big ol’ holes</p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span> </span>I can move lots of dirt</p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span> </span>You’ll twist your ankle</p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span> </span>I hope you get hurt</p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span> </span>I’ll chew on your wood</p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span> </span>I’ll crawl under your car</p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span> </span>I might gnaw a wire</p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span> </span>You won’t get very far</p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span> </span>Sure I’m plump</p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span> </span>Some might call me cute</p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span> </span>But don’t be fooled</p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span> </span>I’m a mean old brute</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">That was him. Ned. The groundhog who has taken it upon himself to start to do all kinds of undesirable things around our home. There he was. Eating popcorn. Popcorn that I had discarded.</p>
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I thought that I was feeding the birds.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Instead, I was feeding Ned, an animal that I do not wish to flourish (at least not around the house). </p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">It reminded me of a truth.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i>We have to be careful what we are feeding.</i></p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Perhaps you’ve heard the story of the two wolves, a Cherokee tale that imagines two wolves being within each of us. (I’ll do a quick paraphrase here just so we are all on the same page.) One wolf is good. The other is evil. One represents love and peace and positive elements. The other represents hatred and war and negative elements. In the tale, the wolves battle each other within each of us and are equally matched. A young boy listening to his grandfather tell the story questions, “Who will win? Which wolf will come out victorious? Will good prevail or will evil triumph?” The grandfather answers, “The one you feed is the one who will win.” </p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"> </p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The one you feed is the one who will win.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Now, there are a number of issues that I would take with this story on a theological level. First, we aren’t equally divided between good and evil. In fact, the Bible teaches <i>“Everyone has turned away, all have become corrupt; there is no one who does good,</i><span style="font-family: Menlo; font-size: 6.7px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><i> </i></span><i>not even one.” </i>(Psalm 53:3) Second the battle between good and evil is not a battle of equals. The devil and God are not on the same ground. Not even close. <i>“…the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.” </i>(1 John 4:4) Third, we are not able to defeat evil within our life by our power, our strength, our abilities. Victory and triumph come through Jesus. Jesus alone. <i>“But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” </i>(1 Corinthians 15:57)</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">That said, there is something to be said about what we are “feeding” in our life. </p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">If we want to grow to be more like Jesus, if we want to get closer to God, if we want to follow after Christ, it makes sense that we would spend time feeding those desires, spend time doing and listening and seeking after the things of God. It makes sense that we would “feed” that which is good and right and proper within us. Spending more time in spiritual disciplines, in prayer, in fasting, in worship, in Bible study, in Christian fellowship, in things that “feed”, that strengthen, that encourage the things of Christ would be beneficial. Conversely, spending time in things that “feed” the things that are not of God would be detrimental. Time spent in gossip, in slander, in selfish ambition, in lust, in greed, in _____ would be time spent away from our Lord and detrimental to our spiritual health. </p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">In his letter to the Colossians, Paul says this:</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i>We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives,</i><span style="font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><b><i> </i></b></span><i>so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience,</i><span style="font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><b><i> </i></b></span><i>and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you</i><span style="font-size: 10px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><i> </i></span><i>to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves,</i><span style="font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><b><i> </i></b></span><i>in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.</i></p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: right;"><i>~ Colossians 1:9-14</i></p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">If we have been freed from the darkness, why do we continue to feed those desires within us that are dark? Why would we want to continue to do those things that had enslaved us in the past? Instead, we should seek to feed the goodness of God within us. We should pray that we would “live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way”. </p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Perhaps you have been feeding your tendency to gossip. Now is the time to turn away from that habit and walk in the light. Perhaps you have been feeding your tendency to lust. Now is the time to turn away from that habit and walk in the light. Perhaps you have been feeding your selfishness, your greed, your pride. Now is the time to turn away from those habits and walk in the light.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Friends, we need to be mindful and cautious of what we are feeding. </p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">We may think that some of our habits are just feeding the birds. In reality? We might be feeding New Alexandria Ned. Trust me. He gets fed enough without our help. </p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: right;">~ Pastor Chris</p>Gethsemane & Middletown UM Charge Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17221740416450728007noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-64065575712590806.post-3178701765463270292021-08-02T14:28:00.004-07:002021-08-02T14:28:45.896-07:00The Olympics (August 8, 2021)<p><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;">Have you been watching the Olympics? </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;"> </span></p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I know. They’ve come on an odd year. Something feels off about them being in 2021 and yet they are still called the “2020 Olympic Games.” It does make it kind of weird to watch them.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I know. NBC's “prime time” showing of the Olympics often plays events that are pre-recorded. Because this is the case, there are some people who cannot keep their big yappers shut. Details are often leaked, even by major news outlets. The prime time viewing can seem less consequential and dramatic as you already know what happens. Even right now I know something that will happen this evening, and I am disappointed by such knowledge.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I know. The Olympics have historically come under criticism for a variety of reasons…for their expense, for their waste (have you ever seen the photos of old Olympic venues deteriorating?), for doping scandals, for a “win at all cost” mentality that can exist, for host nations that have a history of being cruel to their own people, for ________.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I know. There are lots of reasons to refrain from watching. Tired of the political nature of so many things. Tired of the commercialization. Tired of the scandals. Tired of the lack of fans in auditoriums. Tired of hearing the plug for Microsoft Teams and how they are connecting the Olympians and their families (even though this is a good thing that they can connect). Or being just plain tired and not wanting to stay up late to watch them. </p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">There are lots of reasons to decide to not watch the Olympics, and I am perfectly fine with your decision if you choose not to watch them ever again. That decision will likely not be detrimental to your spiritual health. For me, though, for my family, we are watching, and we are watching a lot.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">We’ve watched people flip and twist their bodies in ways that should be impossible during gymnastics competitions.</p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">We’ve watched athletes hit target after target after target in shooting competitions.</p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">We’ve witnessed people imitate Flipper with dolphin kicks that are über impressive.</p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">We’ve seen people run 100 meters in under 10 seconds as if that is no big deal.<br />
We’ve seen people hit shuttlecocks and ping pong balls and tennis balls and volleyballs faster and harder and better than should be humanly possible.</p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">We’ve seen hurdles, high jumps, long jumps.</p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">We’ve witnessed people running and biking long distances as well as short.</p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">We’ve seen people surpass any reasonable expectation of them.</p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">We’ve seen people make mistakes at just the wrong moment.</p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">We’ve seen joy.</p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">We’ve seen pain.</p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">We’ve witnessed compassion and sportsmanship.<br />
</p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">We’ve watched the Olympics. </p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">We’ve enjoyed seeing the competition. We’ve enjoyed seeing people push themselves beyond normal limits, obtaining medals and world records and incredible achievements. We’ve enjoyed celebrating the victories and cheering on those who have given their best efforts to their particular sport. We’ve also enjoyed seeing the sportsmanship, the celebrations of teammates and competitors congratulating one another. We’ve enjoyed a large part of these Olympic Games, and we plan to continue to enjoy them until this Olympic season is done.</p>
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Though that is the case, there are certainly some things that are less than enjoyable. (Many of which have been listed above.) There are also instances when we are sad or empathetic or feel disappointment for people. We have seen the pain of those who trip early in a race, those who stumble, those who fall. We’ve witnessed the agony of those who are injured or hurt and can no longer compete. We’ve seen the frustration, the despair, the tears, the heartache. </p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Throughout these Olympics, we have seen some good, some bad and everything in between. Highs and lows. Joy and despair. Victory and defeat. We have seen some remarkable accomplishments as well as some people who fell short of expectations. A whole gambit of things have been on display, lifetime achievements, personal bests, world records, amazing feats of human ability right alongside of letdowns, agony, and personal despair. But do you want to know the thing that stood out the most for me? Do you want to know what keeps bouncing around in my head after watching these Games?</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">One statement.</p>
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Repeated by many of the athletes.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">“I have worked my whole life for this.”</p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">“I have worked my whole life for this.”</p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">An entire life dedicated to one moment, to one Olympic Games, to one medal. </p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">“I have worked my whole life for this.”</p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">For many who made a statement such as this, it seemed as if the medal around their necks symbolized that their effort, their dedication, the sacrifice was worth it. It was as if they were saying, “I have worked my whole life for this, and look what I accomplished. A gold. A silver. A bronze. See! It was all worth it.” </p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">But was it? </p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br />
Really?<br />
<br />
I appreciate the dedication. I appreciate the accomplishment. I appreciate the sacrifice, especially when compared with so many who haven’t worked at anything other than being comfortable, but is that really all that there is to strive after for these athletes? A hunk of medal and some passing fame and recognition?</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Records will be broken. Names will be forgotten. Medals can be lost or stolen or sold to a pawn shop when times get tough. New people will step in to compete, to entertain. The victories will pass. How will these folks feel in 4 years from now? 8? 12? 48? Will it be worth it then?</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">“I worked my whole life for this.” </p>
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And that’s just the victors, those who have achieved a medal, from those that the media bothered to interview. But what about the ones who had been defeated? What about that fourth place guy or gal who didn’t make the podium? Or backing it up a step, what about the ones who didn’t even make the finals? What about the ones who were eliminated in “pool play” or the early qualifiers? Hadn’t they worked their whole lives for this as well? Hadn’t at least some of them dedicated their lives to being the best possible athlete that they could be? Backing it up even a step further, what about those who didn’t even make the team? The alternates? The backups? Those who had been cut at trials? Hadn’t some of these people worked their whole lives for this too? Was it worth it to them? Was it worth it to the one who fell before they even got started? Was it worth it to the one who jumped the gun early and got disqualified? Was it worth it to the one who just missed out on making the team and will have no real shot of making the team the next time around?</p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">“I have worked my whole life for this.”</p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">When you think about it, it’s sad really. I know that there are other things in life that even the most dedicated of athletes do and experience, but it is still disheartening that people choose to dedicate the vast amount of their lives to one goal: athletic success. Sure, they might be the fastest swimmer for a while, but it won’t last. Someone younger, faster, more gifted will eventually come along. Sure, they might have the medal now and feel the euphoria of an Olympic victory (something that I will never taste), but that moment will be fleeting. Even the most successful American male swimmer of these Games is only taking three weeks off before he’s back in the pool to start training once more, dedicating his life that he might reach that pinnacle once again.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">“I have worked my whole life for this.”</p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"> </p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">This leads me to my question:</p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">What are you working your whole life for?</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Success? Comfort? Family? Friends? Has it been money? Power? Business prowess? Are you working toward anything at all, or are you just drifting by, hoping to make it through another day?<br />
<br />
Paul says this:</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i>For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.</i></p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: right;">~ 1 Timothy 4:8</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">My hope? That when asked that question, I would respond, “I am working my whole life for the kingdom of God.” Whether I’m exercising or resting, whether I’m talking or being quiet, whether I’m watching the Olympics or competing in backyard badminton, my hope is that through each and every aspect of my life that I am working for the kingdom of God, that I am dedicated to the kingdom of God, that I am committed and sacrificing to the kingdom of God. Put into action or set aside, on the playing field or in the stands, called up to the high dive or not even invited to the pool, I hope that in all of my life that I am dedicated to Jesus and to his kingdom, that I am being trained up in godliness which holds value for this life and for the life to come.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">After all, Jesus says, </p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i>“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. </i><span style="font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><b><i> </i></b></span><i>But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. </i><span style="font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><b><i> </i></b></span><i>For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”</i></p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: right;"><i>~ Matthew 6:19-20</i></p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">“I have worked my whole life for this.”</p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">What about you?</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"> </p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: right;">~ Pastor Chris</p>Gethsemane & Middletown UM Charge Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17221740416450728007noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-64065575712590806.post-74458519245430703652021-07-28T13:11:00.003-07:002021-07-28T13:11:27.455-07:00That Room (August 1, 2021)<p><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;">Do you have one of those rooms in your house?</span></p><p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">
You know. </p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><b><i>That </i></b>room.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The one that you would rather not include on a house tour. The one that you’d maybe just like to forget about all together. </p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Ok. Maybe it isn’t a whole entire room (or maybe it’s a few rooms), but it might be a closet or something considered as “storage space”…an attic, a basement, a side of your garage. </p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Do you have a place in your house that is messy, dirty, cluttered, and otherwise fairly embarrassing? A place that you just kind of throw things that have no other home? A place that you would rather not look at yourself, let alone show others?</p>
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If you’re like me, the answer to that type of question is “Yes. Yes, I do. In fact there are a few places like that.”</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">You may have the best intentions to be neat. You may have plans to organize and re-arrange, but still there are some places that just don’t get the attention that they need, some rooms that are a mess and have stayed that way for a number of years. I have these spaces in our house. Trust me. I’m working on it.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">One such room is what we refer to as the utility room. It’s not huge. Large enough to hold the furnace, hot water tank, a stackable washer/dryer, and some “storage” space that is underneath the steps. Maybe it should be called a large utility closet. I don’t know. Regardless, it’s kind of an awkward space. There’s barely enough room to walk between the hot water tank & the furnace. Plus, once you are through that narrow gap, you are under the steps. Obviously that is a space that is challenging. Funny angles, tight quarters. In addition to all of this, the room is not really “finished.” There is no real ceiling and there are pipes, gas lines, and wires traveling throughout. For an added bonus, house spiders seem to like it as there are plenty of places for them to sling their webs. Oh yeah, it also holds the distinct advantage of being a little extra dirty than the rest of the house. Anything you put in there is bound to eventually be covered in dirt and dust. The stairs have little seams/gaps between the treads and risers. Dirt seems to be consistently showering through those seams. Sounds pretty great, right? I think so too. </p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">All in all, this is not a place that I enjoy visiting. Typically, I use the front part of the room, where the laundry is located, and I leave the rest of the space relatively untouched. Items that are in that space are generally the type that I will not need consistently (most are likely not needed at all). Spiders can do their thing. The dirt can fall. The stuff can sit there all messy. I’m content to go in, help with the laundry, and go out, shutting the door behind me. Forgetting all about it. Not worrying about that space in the least. Hoping not to return for a long, long time. The room has managed to stay in the background, largely ignored, largely avoided.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The other day that all changed. </p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Silas and I were on vacation traveling to Ohio & Michigan leaving Christa to have some nice time alone in the house. The problem? She wasn’t alone. One of my declared enemies (at least inside my home) had breached the blockades. Mice entered. They struck while I was away. They began to invade and try to take over our living space while we were gone. The nerve. We had to call in whatever reinforcements we could. Christa’s dad entered the picture, but then he had to leave. Her mom heard the battle cry and came in to fight. Her sister was enlisted. All hands were on deck. Anyone who was home and available was drafted into the Great Mouse War of 2021. </p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">As if it weren’t miserable enough to have mice in the house and to have the family involved in the fight while I was out of town, but to add a little salt to the wound, guess where they decided to set up their base camp? Guess where they chose to center their operations?</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">That’s right. The utility room. That space that I would rather people never see. Ever. The mice chose the utility room as the perfect spot to attack. The darkness was ideal for their cover. There were plenty of little hiding places. Cardboard and other materials were around for the building of their barracks. Yes, the utility room was the perfect spot for the mice to set up shop. So, they did.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">As the days passed, the battle raged. The mice started to make themselves comfortable in other rooms. The bathroom. The living room. The TV room. Scurrying out from the utility room, the mice were trying to take over the entire house. The family put up a good fight, but with only a small degree of success. The mice were just too engrained into the utility room, too comfortable in their base. Something needed done. The utility room needed addressed.</p>
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Fortunately, my brother-in-law returned home from the same festival that Silas and I had been attending (we stayed out-of-town longer to see family). He was willing to face the utility room head on.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Trust me. He was not happy.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">“WHY ARE THERE SO MANY SPIDER WEBS!?!?! THIS PLACE IS RIDICULOUS!!!!!! NO WONDER MICE LIKE IT IN HERE!!!!!!”</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">He wasn’t wrong.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I was just hoping that nobody would ever see or experience that mess besides me. </p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I was hoping that I could keep that little room a secret. Hidden away. Nobody ever needed to know what was going on in that space.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Eventually, it didn’t work.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">It never does.</p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">For my good, for the benefit of my house, for the benefit of our family, my brother-in-law and my nephew braved the utility room to battle the mice. Though they didn’t get them all, they did succeed in removing their bases and taking care of some. I’m thankful for that.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">We all have places like that, don’t we? Places that we try to hide. Places that we ignore. Places that we hope that nobody will ever see. Ever. </p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I’m not just talking about utility rooms either. I’m talking about places within our minds, places within our hearts, places within our spirits. We have had times when we have been hurt, times when we have been disappointed. We have had times when we have fallen short, where we have engaged in behaviors that we are not proud of doing. We have had times when we we’ve entertained thoughts that are not helpful or holy, where we’ve desired or yearned for things that we were never meant to have. We have places that are dark, that are dirty, that are dusty, and what have we done? We’ve shoved them under the steps in the utility room. We’ve hidden them away, allowing the spiders to build their webs, the dirt and the dust to settle, the mildew to build. We’ve tried to pretend as if these areas don’t exist, and we never, ever let anyone under any circumstance into these areas.</p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br />
The problem?<br />
<br />
Eventually if these things within our lives are not dealt with appropriately, mice will enter the picture. Enemies will take up residence in those hidden spots. Not only that, they will be so comfortable there that they will attempt to take over the other areas of our homes as well. Sooner or later little mice will be seen in places that are otherwise neat and tidy. Lapses of judgment. Compromises of character. Words that don’t match our beliefs. Thoughts and patterns begin to shift out of control until we just can’t hide it anymore. If these mice escapades are not dealt with appropriately, larger and large problems will surface until the mice are running the whole joint. (Sometimes we see people publicly fall into sin with a big, outward behavior, but I imagine that there were previous issues/problems that happened beforehand that were not sufficiently addressed. Inner pain that needed healing. Small lapses that needed handled. Other indicators that needed attention as they arose.) Problems will eventually come to the light. They always do. (Feel free to read Luke 8:17 or Luke 12:2-3 to see what Jesus says about the subject.)</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Yesterday I cleaned out our utility room. </p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The mice in the house combined with my brother-in-law’s experience showed me that it was well past time. I did what needed done. I cleaned the utility room.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I entered with a shop vac and began to sweep away the spiderwebs. I cleared out the stuff, piece by piece, items that I hadn’t seen in years upon years. Some went into a bag for donation. Some went into a bag for the trash. A few things were allowed back into storage. I took a bucket and soap and washed things off, dusting the things that needed dusted. Short of moving the furnace, hot water tank, and washer/dryer, I emptied that place out. </p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Including the dead mouse.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I knew that smell was coming from somewhere.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I had let the utility room get to a place of embarrassment as well as a place that was a safe haven for mice, a place of refuge for them, a home. From that point, they sought to do the same with the rest of our home. No thank you. I knew what needed done. A reset. A complete and thorough cleansing. Emptying out all of the stuff that I no longer needed and allowing only that which was good/necessary/helpful back inside.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">How about you?</p>
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Do you have places that need cleansing? Cobwebs that need swept? Areas that require confession? Embarrassing spots that need brought out into the light so that they might be healed?</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I encourage you…don’t let those places go too long. Don’t let them be built up into a safe haven for our enemy (see Ephesians 6:12). Don’t let the mice feel comfortable enough there that they start to move into other areas. Now is the time to act! Now is the time to heal! Now is the time to move! Now is the time to clean out the utility rooms of our soul!</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Yes, it might be hard. Yes, it might involve going before another believer and baring your soul. Yes, they might even say “What is the deal with all of these spiderwebs?” But trust me, the opposite is far, far, far, far worse.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Take this advice from James:</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i>Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.</i></p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: right;"><i>~James 5:16</i></p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Try this sometime. You might find that bringing your problems to light in the hands of a committed follower of Jesus is the very thing that sets you free.</p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Friend, it’s time. Take care of <b><i>that </i></b>room in your life. Trust me. You will be happy that you did.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: right;">~ Pastor Chris</p>Gethsemane & Middletown UM Charge Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17221740416450728007noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-64065575712590806.post-25158660852962778082021-07-28T13:10:00.004-07:002021-07-28T13:10:39.340-07:00Find the Hose (July 18, 2021)<p> <span> <span> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px;">Recently my niece turned 16.</span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px;">And upon turning 16, her parents threw her a huge party filled with games, fun, food, and competition.</span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px;">Competition?</span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px;">Yep, competition.</span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px;">Tons of competitive games.</span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px;">Being an avid lover of competition, I threw myself fully into every game.</span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px;">It was the best 16th birthday party ever!</span></p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>One of the games was called “Find the Hose.” I’ve never played the game before, but soon found myself a huge fan. Let me explain the game, because I assume you have probably never heard of it either (other than the times where you really couldn’t find your garden hose and spent hours searching your shed or garage).</p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>So, here’s how the game worked…</p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“Find the Hose” involved teams lining up on either side of the yard. Each team member was assigned a number that matched with another player on the opposite team. Let’s say you are number 9, so there would be another number 9 on the other team who would be your matched opponent. After the numbers were assigned, the host of the game would place the garden hose randomly in the space between the two teams and scream a number. </p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“9!”</p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span> The two number nines would run out of line and try to find the hose. Hence the name, “Find the Hose.” A winner was only declared once someone located the hose and sprayed water at the opponent! Sounds easy, right? Just wait until your number is called, get the hose, and spray your opponent. Pretty simple.</p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>There was just one catch: you are blindfolded. The whole time you are trying to find the hose you can’t see a thing! </p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>The only help you have (besides crawling desperately on the ground and grasping pieces of grass hoping it is a garden hose) is your teammates. Once a number was called, the rest of the players were allowed to remove their blindfolds and try to talk you through the steps of finding the hose. </p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Well, “talk” is a mild word. Players from both sides are SCREAMING at you to turn left, turn right, go straight, go back. And you don’t know who is talking to who, if your teammates are telling you to turn left or if it is your opponent’s teammates telling them to turn left. It is completely chaotic! </p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>But almost every single time my niece’s number was called, she won. She always found the hose first and sprayed her opponent for the declared win. </p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>How? </p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>First, let me tell you that it was not a situation like that of Pastor Chris’s opponent. He was assigned a number that happened to match up with a little seven year old boy. The boy decided that the only way he would have a chance up against big, tall, Pastor Chris was to just not use his blindfold. Genius, right? He came to the conclusion that he could easily find the hose as long as he could see. So, when Chris’s number was called, the little boy would lift off his blindfold and simply go straight to the hose and proceed to spray Chris right in the face. Chris never won once and never even had a chance! </p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>So, if my niece used her blindfold appropriately, why was she able to find the hose so easily? Was it because we let the birthday girl win each time? </p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Nope.</p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>She won because she listened to <i>one</i> voice on her team. Her aunt’s voice… my voice. Voices were coming at her from all directions, but she zeroed in on the voice she was most familiar with out of anyone else’s on her team. She tuned out every other voice and focused in on my voice and allowed that voice to direct her straight to the hose. She found the hose first more than any other player (besides the little seven year old boy).</p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Even though a lot of you have never played “Find the Hose,” you actually play it more than you know. Every day, in fact. In our spiritual life we are always trying to locate the “hose”… God’s will, the right thing to do, the purpose for our lives, etc., and we have voices screaming at us from all directions. When playing the game “Find the Hose”, there were a number of voices you could choose to listen to, and those same voices are true for us as we walk our faith journey. </p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><b>One of those voices was from the opponent. </b></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><b><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></b> If my niece would have listened to the other team screaming “Turn left!” when she was actually supposed to turn right, she would have been going in the opposite direction. She would have surely lost and had the consequence of getting sprayed with cold water. Likewise, our enemy is always trying to take us down the wrong path. When we listen to our enemy we are headed in the opposite direction that will only result in loss and consequences. </p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><b>Another voice(es) is the clamor of others. </b> </p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Yes, sometimes other people can shine wisdom in our situations and can be extremely helpful. In fact, God calls us to be in relationship with others and share our burdens with them. But sometimes there are so many voices all around us telling us different things that we can’t tell what is up and what is down. Listening to everyone while trying to find the hose was extremely overwhelming. Even if they all knew where the hose was, they didn’t all direct you the same way. Sometimes you heard, “Go back” because the hose was behind you. But it was also to your right. And so at the same time you were hearing “go back”, you were also hearing “turn right” which only resulted in more confusion. </p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><b>Another voice comes from ourselves. </b> </p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>We think we know where to go. We don’t care what anyone else is saying. Sometimes we have an easier time trusting in ourselves than in others. Sometimes we are right. Other times we are blinded and only think we know best. While searching for the nozzle of the hose to spray your opponent, you could find a part of the long hose and think you made it and were about to win. The problem was when you started making your way to the wrong end of the hose and not toward the nozzle! Sometimes we think we know the way, but we are actually just headed the wrong way. </p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>My niece did not dominate this game because she listened to the opponent, or to the clamor of others, or even herself. </p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>She won because she listened to one voice. </p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>That’s how we win too…we listen to that One Voice. </p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><b>The Lord’s voice.</b> </p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Isaiah says it perfectly,</p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i>And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left. </i></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: right;">-Isaiah 30:21 ESV</p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Isaiah’s words offered direction to the children of Israel as they struggled with sin and idolatry. The Israelites had “voices” all around them trying to lead them astray from the laws of God. Before this verse, Isaiah told the Israelites to cry to God for help and promised them that God would hear them and answer them. </p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>If my niece needed more directions or better directions, she would tell me. She would ask for my help, and I answered. Believe me, I was not silent! I wanted her to hear me. </p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>God wants you to hear Him too. </p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>You might say, “But I can’t. He doesn’t talk to me. He’s completely silent.” </p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>But, is He really? </p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Have you turned to Him? Have you sought Him? Have you cried out to Him, and asked to hear Him? More importantly, are you familiar with His voice? Would you even know it was Him who was talking to you?</p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>One reason why my niece chose to listen to me was because she knew me. She spent more time with me than anyone else on her team. She recognized my voice, and knew my voice the best. She never had to question if I was on her team or the opponent’s team, because she knew my voice well. </p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Do you recognize His voice?</p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><b><i> <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></i></b><i>My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.</i></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: right;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>-John 10:27 ESV</p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>The only way to be familiar with God’s voice is by spending time with Him…which involves praying and reading His word. That way when you need to know what is right, you will recognize what is right and true because you are now familiar with what contradicts His Word. </p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>You will recognize His voice because you have spent time with Him and have begun understanding how He talks to you…either through the Bible, in your prayer time, listening to sermons, through His creation, etc. </p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>You will know your Shepherd so well that you can hear Him and follow Him because you know Him not just in a head knowledge kind of way, but in an intimate and deep way. You will know His voice the best and never have to question that He is on your team. </p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Do you know Him that way? </p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>My niece knew that I not just existed, that I wasn’t just there as a random voice, but she knew she could trust me. She knew I would not lead her astray. She knew that I wanted her to win, I wanted her to succeed, I wanted what was best for her. Because I loved her.</p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>We must trust Jesus. Trust that He will never lead you astray. He wants you to win, He wants you to succeed, He wants what is best for you. He loves you. </p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>What voice are you listening to? The opponent’s? The confusing mix of many? Yourself? </p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Or are you listening to the One who will always lead you in the right direction?</p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span> Sometimes you will feel like you are blindfolded and have no idea where to go. Life does not always allow us to lift up the blindfold like a seven year old and head straight for the win. Sometimes finding the hose is difficult. The voices surrounding you might be loud and overwhelming. But never forget that there is a voice behind you saying, </p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“This is the way. Walk in it.” </p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>So, go find that hose. More importantly, find that Voice. Hear that Voice. Follow that Voice. </p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>If you don’t… watch out! There might be a stream of water coming straight for your face. </p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: right;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>-Christa Morris</p>Gethsemane & Middletown UM Charge Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17221740416450728007noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-64065575712590806.post-13550895756564889292021-07-07T12:41:00.000-07:002021-07-07T12:41:05.239-07:00Don't Be That Turkey (July 11, 2021)<p><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;">One of the many blessings (and sometimes challenges) of living where we live is the abundance of wildlife.</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;">It is not unusual to see some type of creature roaming around near our house.</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;">We see some fairly common ones like deer, chipmunks, squirrels, rabbits, groundhogs, raccoon, possums, skunk.</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;">If you’re looking just a little bit harder, you can see some water-loving creatures like frogs, toads, newts.</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;">There are tons and tons of small crawly and flying things like mosquitos, bees, wasps, hornets, praying mantis, ants, beetles.</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;">We’ve also seen some bigger, scarier things around like bear, coyote, bobcats, snakes.</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;">And of course, we see birds.</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;">Lots and lots of birds.</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;">For me, it is awesome to see so many animals roaming about (unless they are choosing to do some damage to the property).</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;">Though I typically don’t go out of my way to find them, when I do see an animal I like to watch and see if they might be teaching me something about myself, about God, or about God’s creation.</span></p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The other day as I was driving home, I came across a small family of turkeys. A mom and her young‘uns. There were 5 or 6 of the little ones (I couldn’t quite tell) following the mom, all in the middle of the driveway. In my best estimation they were either looking for a bite to eat, they were taking a site-seeing road trip, or they were playing a quick game of parcheesi. I’m not 100% sure as I’m not an expert on turkey behavior or parcheesi for that matter. Regardless, there they were, minding their own business, enjoying life as a family of turkeys when my giant SUV approached. I’m sure it was quite startling. Large. White. Dirty. V8 engine rumbling. Roof rack on the top for summer kayak trips. Tires kicking up gravel as I dodged any potholes I would encounter on the way home. To those turkeys in that instant, I’m sure I appeared to be an apex predator on my way to Thanksgiving supper. I expected the turkeys to flee. To run. To fly. To hide. To get out of there as quickly as possible.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">That’s not what happened.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Momma Turkey did make that snap decision. She saw me coming and quickly went into the brush, safely away from the approaching danger. I’m sure she expected her little ones to follow, but they didn’t. (Well, maybe one did…that’s where I’m not sure if there were 5 or 6 of the little ones.) Five little turkeys didn’t follow, didn’t hop off the driveway, didn’t hide, didn’t flee.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Do you know what they did?</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">They decided to see if they could out-trot the SUV. They started their own, little turkey trot race. 5 little turkeys vs. me. They turned, single file and began trotting down the driveway in front of the car. For a looonnnnggggg time.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Can you picture it? </p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">A large, white, SUV creeping down the drive with five little turkeys trotting right in front of the passenger side tire.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">It was quite comical…and a little bit sad.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">There I was, telling the little turkeys, “Just turn! Duck off the road! (To borrow a term from another bird.) Your mom went into the bushes. Why don’t you? Go in there. Be safe. The path you are taking isn’t a good one! What is the matter with you?”</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Clearly, their turkey logic had failed in that instant. Instead of choosing the quickest path to safety, they chose the longest path of peril with death and destruction breathing down their necks.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Fortunately for the little turkeys, I was not the apex predator that they likely feared. I wasn’t hungry. It’s not November. I had no intention of running over the things. Even though they felt like they were trotting away from death and destruction, no harm would befall them at my hands. The turkeys could trot the whole way to the house, and I wouldn’t let them succumb to my tires. Had I wanted to squash them I imagine I could have gotten a whole row of them without much effort; however, that was not my intent…even if the turkeys thought that it was.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">So there we were…5 little turkeys, trotting down the driveway with me in my giant SUV following them. They weren’t getting away. If anything, I was getting closer. </p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Eventually, two of the little ones at the back of the line had a light bulb moment. They said to one another, “What if we ducked into the brush?” “Yeah. That might work.” “Let’s try it.” Off they went, escaping the giant, white monster that was in pursuit. </p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The other three continued on with their plan. “Let’s out-trot this thing.” It wasn’t working. I stayed right with them until eventually the two in the back of the line had a similar idea as their siblings. “What if we ducked into the brush?” “Yeah. That might work.” “Let’s try it.” Off they went, escaping the giant, white monster that was in pursuit.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Finally, there was one little turkey left. The leader. The one who was leading the entire turkey trot from the beginning. It looked like it was bound and determined to trot the whole way to the house, but then something unexpected happened…</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Just as I was thinking “I guess I’m doing this the whole way home,” the turkey did something drastic.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">It flew.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Flew!</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Flew.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">It had spent that whole time trotting away from me in my giant SUV when it could have flown to safety at any point! </p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">“You’ve got to be kidding me.”</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">That was all I could think.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">How could this bird choose trotting over flying? How could this bird refrain from following its mother into the woods, lead four of its siblings down the driveway, squawk and yell, and be in fear for its life from me in my SUV and it never chose to fly before this point? Really? Trotting? Over flying? Away from a car? A big one at that? Seriously? </p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Yet that was the reality. That bird could have fled from danger in multiple ways at multiple points, and yet it chose the second worst option (the worst would have been a Kamikaze style attack, running straight under my tire). It could have followed its mom right away. It could have ducked into the weeds at a variety of points. It could have FLOWN. Flown! Instead, it chose trotting right down the path that I was headed. Trotting. Not flying. What a bird-brained choice.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">It made me wonder…</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">How often do we do the same?</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">How often do we get a glimpse of imminent danger and choose a terrible path? Maybe it’s because of our shock, or our ignorance, or our unwillingness to change direction, but it still happens. Danger approaches. Darkness comes after us. A monster with a V8 engine is nipping at our heals and we choose to trot down the same path.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Perhaps we think “surely that thing will duck into the woods.” Or maybe we reason “I’m the best trotter I know. That won’t catch up to me. I can stay a step ahead of it.” Maybe we see our Mom dart away or hear someone say, “You really ought to get off of that path,” but we don’t listen. “What do they know? How can they help? I like this path.” We just keep trotting along as if we know that the driver of the SUV won’t hurt us, but in reality the driver is bent on obliterating us and doing everything in its power to tear us apart.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Too often, many of us choose trotting when evil approaches. We think things like, “How much is really <b><i>too</i></b> much? How much of ____ or ____ can I get away with before it harms me or my relationship with God?” Or “I’ll just get a little bit of the juicy news and share it with just this one person. That’s not really hurting anyone.” Or “If nobody else knows, it isn’t really a problem.” We maybe try to cut back on our sin, limit our evil, or hope that on some giant cosmic scale that our good outweighs our bad. Instead of seeing the real threat, the real danger, we minimize, ignore, or think that “It won’t happen to me.” We trot away down the same path when we should have fled long, long ago.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Romans says it this way:</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i>Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.</i></p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: right;"><i>Romans 12:9</i></p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">David said it like this:</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i>Turn from evil and do good;</i></p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: right;"><i>Psalm 37:27</i></p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Other translations use words like “abhor” or “flee”. Hate/abhor/despise/detest that which is evil. Flee from it. Run from it. Avoid it at all costs. Cling to what is good. Do that which is good. Seek after that which is good.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Granted. This is not possible on our own, but then again, we are not on our own. For those of us who have offered our lives to Jesus, we have been given the Holy Spirit, the very Presence of God living within our hearts, the very Spirit and power of Jesus at work within us. You remember Jesus, right? The One who would not turn rocks into bread, even while hungry. The One who would not pitch himself off of a cliff to prove that he was loved. The One who would not worship the devil to receive all of the material blessings that the devil had to offer. (See Matthew 4:1-11) That same Jesus. You have his Spirit. With you at all times. He has enabled you to do much more than trot. He has enabled you to fly.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Friend, do not be like that turkey, leading others down an ill-chosen path, failing to follow the advise of those wiser and more experienced, choosing to trot when God had given it the ability to fly. Instead, flee from those things that are evil. Heed the advice of spiritually mature believers in Christ. Lead others down the path of salvation. Rely on the Holy Spirit within you. Fly. </p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Fly/flee/run/sprint/do whatever you can to to escape that which is evil and bent on your destruction. Cling to that which is good. Don’t be that turkey. After all if that turkey continues with the same pattern, it will one day come across someone who is in the mood for a turkey dinner, willing to run it over. You don’t want to end up the same way…devoured and learning that your trotting had done you no good.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Fly, friend. </p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Fly.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: right;">~ Pastor Chris</p>Gethsemane & Middletown UM Charge Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17221740416450728007noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-64065575712590806.post-51521579765825107802021-06-30T11:13:00.002-07:002021-06-30T11:13:22.833-07:00Your Worth is in Your Worship (July 4, 2021)<p><i style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;">“They followed worthless idols and themselves became worthless.”</i></p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: right;"><i>~2 Kings 17:15</i></p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Perhaps the idol was made of wood. Maybe it was cast out of bronze. Perhaps the idol was crudely made. Maybe it was the most intricate statue that a skilled craftsman could render. Perhaps it was the tchotchke type, mass produced for the tourists who would make a site-seeing trip to the city. “Get yer idol here! Only available today at this price! You won’t find one like it outside of Samaria!” Maybe it was truly one-of-a-kind, a treasure. Gold with ruby eyes and other precious stones adorning it. The specifics don’t really matter. Compared to God, they were all of equal value. Worthless.</p>
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The material didn’t matter. The craftsmanship didn’t matter. Whether it was 1 of millions just like it or if it were completely unique. Made of gold. Made of silver. Made of bronze. Made of wood. Made of straw. None of these details were important. They were all worthless. Worthless idols that could not and would not compare to the one, true God.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The Israelites knew better.</p>
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They were the chosen ones. The select. They had the proper lineage. Descended from the right people. Abraham was among their ancestors. Isaac too. Jacob as well. They knew of Joseph and how their family line was rescued from extinction and starvation. Even though Joseph had been mistreated, wrongly accused, and imprisoned, they saw how God brought blessing and prosperity to a whole nation through him. They knew how the Egyptians had turned. The heard the stories of slavery of captivity in Egypt. They knew how God had delivered them from their oppressors. Moses. The plagues. How their direct ancestors had been spared. The blood. The Passover. The lambs. They knew of the escape and the sea. Crossing it on dry ground. Walls of water standing on either side. They heard the lessons of the discontentment and complaining. How their forefathers had moaned about manna and longed for meat. How they even griped that they would have been better off in Egypt, in slavery. They knew how the lack of faith had kept them out of the Promised Land. How only two believed in the power of God to deliver the land into their hands and how the people wandered through the desert for 40 years as a result. They knew the commandments that had been given. The tablets in the Ark of the Covenant. They knew the guidelines, the expectations. They knew about finally entering the land flowing with milk and honey. Joshua. Jericho. Walls tumbling. They saw God’s faithfulness. God’s provision. As they grew and wanted a king, they knew about Saul. How pride had got the best of him. How he had turned from God. They remembered David. His heart. A heart that was after God’s own. Solomon. His wisdom. The Temple. Story after story after story. Lesson after lesson after lesson. They knew.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">And yet…</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i>“They followed worthless idols and themselves became worthless.”</i></p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: right;"><i>~2 Kings 17:15</i></p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">They followed worthless idols. </p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">They became like that which they had followed.</p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Worthless.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">It’s amazing to think about. It’s amazing to ponder. I didn’t even cover everything that God had done in the history of Israel. I didn’t share all of the stories that had happened prior to this point. There wasn’t a mention of Elisha above or his predecessor, Elijah. No mentioning of any of the judges. Samuel wasn’t in that brief synopsis. Still, even if this is all they had known, even if they hadn’t heard all of the other stories that I left out, wasn’t this enough? Wasn’t this sufficient? How could they possibly follow after idols? Even if they didn’t remember the account of Elijah and the prophets of Baal, even if they didn’t remember the fire from God that licked up the water on the altar versus the complete silence from Baal, hadn’t they learned enough? Hadn’t they known enough? How could they have done such a thing?</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i>“They followed worthless idols and themselves became worthless.”</i></p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: right;"><i>~2 Kings 17:15</i></p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Perhaps it was their success that got in their way. Perhaps the very blessings that God had bestowed upon them turned out to be their downfall. They became too comfortable, too confident. Or maybe they didn’t believe what they had been told. Old wives stories. Fairy tales. God didn’t really do that. That’s just a way that uneducated folks explained how we got here. Or maybe they just thought that God wouldn’t follow through. “Sure, sure. God wants us to follow after him and him alone, but everyone else has the limited edition Samarian idol. God will understand. It won’t be a big deal.” Perhaps they just forgot. They went a week without observing the sabbath. Then two, then a month. The next thing you know they weren’t going at all. Prayers had ceased. Stories had stopped. Maybe they just forgot about God. </p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Ultimately, the reason, though helpful, isn’t the most important part. The fact remains.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i>“They followed worthless idols and themselves became worthless.”</i></p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: right;"><i>~2 Kings 17:15</i></p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Despite their long history. Despite knowing all the times that they had succeeded and all the times that they had failed, they no longer followed the Creator. They no longer served the Lord. They no longer feared God or kept God’s commandments. They no longer sought the Lord’s council or asked the question about what God might desire. Instead, they turned to other “gods”, to other idols, to things that had no ability to offer them anything of worth, and they became like that which they served. Worthless. </p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">What a sad state. What a depressing line of Scripture.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i>“They followed worthless idols and themselves became worthless.”</i></p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: right;"><i>~2 Kings 17:15</i></p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">This week we are celebrating Independence Day in our country. As we do so, we have the opportunity to look back over the history of our nation. The good things. The bad things. The things that are in between. We have the opportunity to remember the sacrifices, the cost that has been paid, the lives that have been offered. We have a chance to remember those who were selfless, those who served, those who pointed to a better way to live, those who lived for God (sometimes alongside our country and its agenda and sometimes in spite of our country and its agenda). We also have the chance to remember those who acted selfishly, who were oppressive, who took instead of gave, who served things that were not from God’s hand or according to God’s plan. Let’s be honest. Within the history of our nation, just like within the history of Israel and their nation, there are things we can celebrate and things we can mourn. There have been successes as well as failures. Positive as well as negative. Good as well as bad. Every swing of the bat has not been a home run. Nor have they all been a strike. It’s important and good that we look back and remember it all. Even more important? That we remember and that it makes a difference.</p>
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The Israelites had every opportunity to see God at work through the history of their nation. They had every opportunity to learn from their ancestors and from what God had done in the past. Even so, they chose to forego what had come before to serve idols of zero worth. In so doing, they, themselves, became worthless.</p>
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Friend, you and I have an opportunity to learn from their mistake. We have an opportunity to look back on the history of our nation and to learn, to remember, to discover, to grow. Not only that, but we also have an opportunity to look back on a much broader scale, to behold the ways that God has worked throughout time, to consider the ways in which God has moved in other countries, other nations, other circumstances. As we look back and as we remember, let us not make the same mistakes as the nation of Israel. Let us not forget where worth is found and Who we should be following. </p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">As many have sought to find worth in status, in social media followers, in financial portfolios, in housing plans, in vocation, in location, in ______, let us not do the same. Let us not give our hearts or follow after <b><i>any</i></b> other idol. For anything that we pursue above God, apart from God, or outside of God’s plan has the same amount of value. Zip. Zero. Zilch. In terms of our worship, in terms of our hearts, in terms of Who or what we choose to follow, there are two categories. God & everything else. One is of infinite value. The other? Not so much.</p>
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There’s a saying that I’m sure you have heard. “You are what you eat.” That’s not precisely true. I can eat Brussels sprouts until the day I die and never turn into one. There’s another saying that I’m still trying to work out, but it goes more like “Your worth is in your worship.” If you worship the one, true God, the Creator of all, the Alpha and Omega, the one who is worthy, you, too, will find your worth in God. However, if you choose to worship, to follow, to give your heart to anything else, your worth will be defined by that as well.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i>“They followed worthless idols and themselves became worthless.”</i></p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: right;"><i>~2 Kings 17:15</i></p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Worship that which is worthy. Find your worth in God. Follow after God all of your days.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Fortunately for the Israelites, hope was still to come through them and for them. One was still to be born within their tribe, along the line of David. The Messiah, the Savior, Jesus was on the way. Even though they messed up, even though they became worthless by following worthless idols, God did not forsake them. Instead, God offered a way. That way was Jesus. God has done the same for you. As we approach Independence Day and we remember all that our country has done, collectively, as well as all that we have done individually, know that God has still provided a way. Even if you feel worthless or have followed after that which has no worth, know that you may still find your value in Jesus. Turn now towards God and follow Him.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i>“They followed worthless idols and themselves became worthless.”</i></p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: right;"><i>~2 Kings 17:15</i></p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Your worth is in your worship.</p>
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Make sure you are worshipping the One who is worthy.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: right;">~ Pastor Chris</p>Gethsemane & Middletown UM Charge Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17221740416450728007noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-64065575712590806.post-11978451676172176682021-06-23T11:56:00.002-07:002021-06-23T11:56:19.947-07:00Thank God for Puppies (Babies) (June 26, 2021)<p><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;">Have you ever seen a </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; text-decoration: line-through;">puppy</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;"> (oops, I mean baby) that just made you overflow with emotion? </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;"> </span></p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">There you are, minding your own business when the cutest <span style="text-decoration: line-through;">puppy</span> (baby) you have ever seen crosses your path. Soft cuddly fur. Big floppy ears. Tripping over its own feet. Excited about everything. You just can’t help it. You drop everything just so that you can be with it. Hold it. Pet it. Scoop it up and let it kiss your cheeks. Maybe you even catch a whiff of that “<span style="text-decoration: line-through;">puppy</span> (baby) breath” that is sweeter than the sweetest smelling perfume. The <span style="text-decoration: line-through;">puppy</span> (baby) has filled you to the brim with joy, with wonder, with awe. You suddenly speak “<span style="text-decoration: line-through;">puppy</span> (baby) talk”….you know that high-pitched excited voice. “Who’s the good wittle fella? Who’s such a good boy? You want a treat? Oh, I’d give you so many treats if I had any with me! I just want to hold you and squeeze you and love you! You’re sooooooooooo cute!!!”</p>
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Ever experienced that? Do <span style="text-decoration: line-through;">puppies</span> (babies) make you act that way?</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">(Ok. For the astute reader, you might recognize that this is the exact same beginning as last week’s devotional. I figured I owed you two weeks of cute and cuddly as we had experienced two weeks of creepy and yucky. This week I have just inserted the term “baby” for “puppy.” You also might notice that some of the descriptors don’t exactly fit for a baby. I know. I thought it was funny to leave some of that stuff in there. Now, the astute reader might also be wondering how far I will continue with this trend. After all, I admitted that I don’t really gush all over puppies in last week’s reading. Plus, I put kittens down. Can I possibly be so cruel when it comes to babies? Is this really where I’m about to go with this devotional?)</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Alright. Here it comes. I don’t go wild over babies either. In all reality, I really don’t go wild about much. For the most part, I’m a pretty low-key guy. Yes, I find babies cute. Yes, I will make silly faces and will try to get them to laugh at me. Yes, I enjoy babies more than puppies (and way more than kitties). However, if you’d compare me to some other folks I know…my reactions are pretty tame. That is not a reflection of my heart for babies. It is just the way I roll.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Again, regardless of whether or not you would hear me squeal from down the street when a baby enters the room, I thank God for babies. I thank God for the joy that they bring, for the way that they can brighten a room. I thank God for the hope of life that is contained within them and for the way that God loves each one of them dearly, completely. I thank God for their curiosity, for their expressiveness, for their dependence upon others to take care of them. Yes, I thank God for babies (and I hope that you do too)!</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Here’s a thing about babies, though. They grow up. They don’t stay in babyhood forever, especially when they are your kids. You blink your eye a few times and you have a toddler. The next second they’re off to kindergarten. Before you know it, a teenager is upon you. A couple of blinks after that and they are out of school, employed, and having their own family. Babies don’t stay babies. They grow up. That cute little bundle of slobber and drool will not stay that way forever. One day they will be like you and I. A full-grown adult human who is likely far less cute than their baby version. Guess what? I, for one, am thankful for this fact. As much as we can enjoy babies, I’m thankful that they do not stay that way. I’m thankful that they grow, develop, that there is more to their life than sleep, eat, poo, repeat. (Although that description can also be used for many of us adults as well.) Yes, I’m grateful that babies do not stay babies. You should be too.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Here’s why.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I do not wish to rob any baby of the experiences, of the <b><i>life</i></b> that lays before them. </p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I do not wish to take away the sunsets, the laughter, the relationships. I do not want to remove the chance for family bonds or life-long friendships. I want for babies to get the chance to move past puréed peas and have the opportunity to taste grilled asparagus. I hope that they get the chance to move beyond those little puffs that dissolve in their mouth and get to experience a nice, greasy slice of pepperoni pizza. I want for them to learn to walk, to run, to swim, to jump, to skip rope. I want for them to get to feel the breeze blowing through the window of a car, to hear music that inspires them, to sing, to dance, to shout. I’d love for them to get to see the ocean at least once, to feel the sand in between their toes, to feel a wave crash on their back. I want for them to find out what makes them laugh, what brings them joy. There is sooooooo much life that I want for each baby that I would never want for them to stay a baby and miss all of that (even if they’re cute and it might seem nice if they would stay that way forever). Yes, I know that I’ve skipped over the bad stuff. I’ve bypassed the suffering that might lay before them, the heartache and the pain. Still, I wouldn’t want to keep from them the opportunity to experience the love of the Lord that reaches beyond life’s hardships. I want for babies to learn, to grow, to experience life. I want for them to grow into the people that God has planned for them to be. Babies do not stay babies, and I am grateful for that fact (even if there are occasions where I wish we could take a return trip to visit Silas in babyland if for but a moment).</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Hopefully, at this point, you agree with me. Hopefully you recognize that it would not be the best thing for a child to stay as a child, for a baby to stay as a baby. Instead, it is better for them to grow, to experience life. This is God’s design, this is God’s plan, and it really is a good one. If we really want what is best for people, our desire should be for them to grow out of babyhood and enter adulthood. In the course of a baby’s life, it really is best that they grow, that they develop, that they live to experience life as an adult. To try to keep a person in an “infant” state would be to deprive them of all life has to offer.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The same can be said for our spiritual lives as well.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">It is a wonderful thing to see someone who is new to the faith, someone who has just realized the forgiveness that Jesus has offered and has accepted that gift of life by giving their lives to Christ. It is great to see commitments of faith, and we should certainly celebrate new believers. However, we are not meant to continue on as spiritual infants. The design is similar to the design of our physical bodies. There should be growth. There should be development. There should be new life that we experience in our Christian walk that we would have missed out on if we remain as spiritual infants. Though this is the case, too often we find ourselves arrested in our spiritual development, stuck in babyland without even knowing that there is more to be had. </p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Paul, in his letter to the Corinthians, addressed this issue. Look at what he said. </p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i>Brothers and sisters, I could not address you as people who live by the Spirit but as people who are still worldly—mere infants in Christ. I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere humans?</i></p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: right;"><i>~1 Corinthians 3:1-3</i></p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">To paraphrase, Paul says, “I can’t talk to you like spiritual adults. I couldn’t address you as if you live by the Spirit. You are still worldly. Mere infants. So, I had to give you a bottle. Milk. Not meat. Barely warmed. Not hot enough to scald. Nothing chewy. Nothing substantial. Why? You fight. You quarrel. You act like Jesus is not in your hearts. I have to address you with baby-talk. You live according to worldly means, according to worldly measures.” </p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The implication here is that this should not be so. Paul expected for believers in Jesus to be growing in their faith, to be guided by the Spirit, to cast aside worldly desires and be filled with heavenly ones. For the audience in Corinth at that time, this was not the case. Paul still had to feed them baby food. They were so caught up in worldly issues that they weren’t able to digest spiritual ones. </p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Friend, what about you?<br />
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What are you able to eat?</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">If you’re new to your relationship with Jesus, it is great to be bottle-fed. It is important to drink the milk, to learn the beginning steps of what a life of faith looks like. However, it is also important not to stay there. No, I don’t mean that we must get some theological education and learn impressive sounding words. It is OK to keep our language simple and to continue to ponder the profound truth that is found in statements like “God is love”. I’m not talking about trying to sound impressive. Instead, I’m talking about actually becoming more mature in our faith. Putting aside the things that draw us away from Jesus. Becoming less concerned with worldly measures, with worldly success. Seeking God in all aspects of our lives. Learning the Scripture, becoming familiar with the Word of God, incorporating the truth of the Gospel in our daily affairs. Being sensitive to the Spirit, displaying the Spirit’s fruits. Seeking God in prayer. </p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">There is a lot of life to be found in our Christian faith. There is steak to be grilled and eaten. Not only that, but there is fresh corn on the cob, grilled asparagus, baked potatoes, and warm brownies with ice cream as well. There are depths to our faith that we have not yet reached. There are heights to our journey that we have not yet scaled. There is a path before us that we have not yet taken. Life to be lived. Faith to be discovered. And yet, many of us are content to be rocked, content to be cradled, content to sip on our bottles, content to stay right were we are…in babyland. </p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">How about you?<br />
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Have you grown in your faith since you first met Jesus? Are you closer to him this year than you were ten years ago? Are you maturing as a believer in Christ?<br />
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Or are you still drinking milk with people coming by and saying “ooohhh how cute! What a cute wittle baby!”?</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I hope that you are growing. I pray that you are maturing. I want for you to experience all that Jesus has to offer, the depths of his mercy, the richness of his love, the joy, the hope, the peace, the life that He brings. I want that for myself as well. I do not wish for us to stay as spiritual infants because I know that is not what is best for us.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">So, would you pray with me? Would you ask God, “Please deepen my faith. Please draw me closer. I want to grow in my relationship with you, Jesus.”? I pray that you do. I pray that we would never have to eat puréed peas again, but that we would enjoy all of the fullness that God has to offer.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Yes, I thank God for babies, but I also thank God that they grow. </p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: right;">~ Pastor Chris</p>Gethsemane & Middletown UM Charge Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17221740416450728007noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-64065575712590806.post-8617391399274721702021-06-16T10:39:00.005-07:002021-06-16T10:39:52.133-07:00Thank God for Puppies (June 20, 2021)<p><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;">Have you ever seen a puppy that just made you overflow with emotion? </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;"> </span></p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">There you are, minding your own business when the cutest puppy you have ever seen crosses your path. Soft cuddly fur. Big floppy ears. Tripping over its own feet. Excited about everything. You just can’t help it. You drop everything just so that you can be with it. Hold it. Pet it. Scoop it up and let it kiss your cheeks. Maybe you even catch a whiff of that “puppy breath” that is sweeter than the sweetest smelling perfume. The puppy has filled you to the brim with joy, with wonder, with awe. You suddenly speak “puppy talk”….you know that high-pitched excited voice. “Who’s the good wittle fella? Who’s such a good boy? You want a treat? Oh, I’d give you so many treats if I had any with me! I just want to hold you and squeeze you and love you! You’re sooooooooooo cute!!!”</p>
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Ever experienced that? Do puppies make you act that way?</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Not me.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Not at all.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Call me names. Question my character. Judge me. But in all honesty, I don’t get terribly excited about puppies. Sure, they’re cute. Sure, they can be a blessing to people. Sure, they are way better than kittens (personal opinion here…again I recognize that I am opening myself up for some criticism). Still, they just don’t evoke such emotions for me. They don’t get me all excited. I see the puppy. Maybe I pet the puppy. Maybe. Probably not. Then, I move on…thankful that I’m not the one who will be responsible for teaching the puppy how to refrain from doing its business on my carpet. I’m not anti-puppies. I don’t harbor some deep-seated angst concerning puppies. They just don’t cause the same emotional response in me that happens for others, and that’s OK. As far as I can tell, there is no Biblical mandate that we all must become oooeey-goooeeey when a puppy is introduced. Personal preference in this matter is permitted. Puppies are puppies, and in my opinion they are fine. I know. I’m a cold-hearted monster.</p>
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Still, I will say that I thank God for puppies.</p>
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I thank God for the way that puppies can bring people joy. I thank God for the way that puppies can bring people hope. I thank God for the way a puppy can brighten up someones day who would otherwise be rather down in the dumps and depressed. I thank God for puppies, and I appreciate them…even if I don’t do a backflip each time I see one. I thank God for puppies because they are a small reminder of the goodness of our God. They are a small symbol of the hope we have in Jesus.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Recently, I’ve written a couple of devotionals that have focused on things that maybe aren’t the cutest of creatures in God’s creation. You know. Rodents and parasites. Not the most pleasant of topics, but they made a point about our spiritual walk. We are in a spiritual battle, and there are things that can attack us and attach to us that seek to sap our spiritual strength, that seek to drain life from us. This is reality, and we can’t just ignore it. It is far better to be prepared and to face this reality head-on with the truth. It is good for us to know that we are in a battle. It is good for us to recognize things in our life that are detrimental to our spiritual health. But do you know what is even better?</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Knowing that the war has been won.</p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Knowing that there is victory.</p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Knowing that there is hope, even in the face of despair.</p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Knowing that the light triumphs over the darkness.</p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Knowing that we serve such a great and mighty Lord that even death could not contain Him, the grave could not hold him.</p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Knowing that life wins, and that we are offered this life through Jesus.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Yes, the battle is real. </p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Yes, the struggle is legitimate.</p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Yes, there is ugliness that reminds us of the brokenness of creation.</p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Yes, there are dark and evil things that seek our destruction.</p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">No, we cannot escape the fight.</p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">No, everything will not always be easy.</p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">No, the ugliness has not completely covered that which is beautiful and good.</p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">No, the dark and evil things will not always win.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">There is hope. There is truth. There is light. There is faith. There are puppies. There is Jesus.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I thank God for puppies.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Puppies can serve as a reminder of goodness, of light, of truth, of hope. Puppies can enter into a situation that is dark and gloomy and can turn that situation right around. </p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Puppies can point to the loving and caring nature of our Creator.</p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Puppies can be bringers of joy, of laughter, of love.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">So, I thank God for puppies…even if I never speak in “puppy voice.” </p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">In one of Paul’s letters to the Corinthians, look at what he says:</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i>We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; </i><span style="font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><b><i> </i></b></span><i>persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. </i><span style="font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><b><i> </i></b></span><i>We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.</i></p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: right;"><i>~2 Corinthians 4:8-10</i></p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Or, how about these words from Jesus:</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i>“In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”</i></p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: right;"><i>~John 16:33</i></p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">In both of these passages, there is a recognition of the reality of this world that we inhabit. There are problems. There is pain. There is heartache. There are troubles. This is part of life, but this is not the entire picture. Hard pressed…yes, but not crushed. Perplexed…yes, but not in despair. Persecuted…yes, but not abandoned. Struck down…yes, but not destroyed. Troubles in the world…yes, but Jesus has overcome!</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Within our lives, God leaves reminders of His goodness, reminders of his grace, reminders of his blessings, reminders of the hope that we have in the Lord. <br />
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Puppies can be such a reminder. (So can kittens…even if I don’t like them as much.) Sunrises, sunsets, blooming flowers, soft breezes, singing birds, babies laughing, waterfalls, forest trails, fall leaves, gently falling snow, blue skies, fluffy clouds, friendly smiles, on and on and on and on. There are so many reminders that God places around us to whisper to us that He is good, that He is with us, and that the ultimate victory belongs to Jesus.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Sometimes, we just need to remember to stop, to rejoice over the puppies, and to thank Jesus.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Sometimes we get so caught up in the battle, so bogged down by the struggle, so occupied by the things that aren’t going well that we completely bypass those things that are good. Sometimes we get so caught up in the fight that we forget about the victory. Sometimes we get so focused on the parasite that we forget about the puppies.</p>
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So, friend, I encourage you. Be aware of both. Remember the battle, recognize that we are in a war, but know who has achieved the victory and remember that the battle belongs to the Lord. Fight off the parasites but don’t forget about the puppies.</p>
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We’ve spent some time in the past talking about some of the ways to battle against the icky stuff. Today, I want to encourage you to take the battle a step further by focusing on that which is good. Yesterday may have been about the parasites. Today is about the puppies. So, take a moment, today, to focus on the blessings of God. </p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Catch a sunset. Set an early alarm for a sunrise. Take a stroll down your favorite path. Call up an old friend. Listen to some good music. Enjoy a cool glass of unsweetened ice tea. Pet a puppy.</p>
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Take a moment today to realize that though we may be hard pressed, we are not crushed. Though we may be perplexed, we are not in despair. Though we may be persecuted, we are not abandoned. Though we may be struck down, we are not destroyed. Though we may have troubles in this world, Jesus has overcome!</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: right;">~ Pastor Chris</p>Gethsemane & Middletown UM Charge Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17221740416450728007noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-64065575712590806.post-45083097323740139882021-06-09T13:39:00.002-07:002021-06-09T13:39:21.283-07:00Parasites (June 13, 2021)<p><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;">Have you ever experienced a parasite?</span></p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">They can be pesky and quite scary little buggers. Just the mention of the word “tapeworm” is enough to give me the creeps, a good old fashioned case of the heebie-jeebies. <b>NO THANK YOU!!!!! </b>I really didn’t need to know that there are 6 different types of tapeworms that commonly infect people. You probably didn’t need to know that either. But now we do, and we can hopefully agree that they are undesirable at best. Sure, some might think that having a tapeworm would offer weight loss benefits, but at what cost? Disease. Weakness. Pain. Deficiencies. Again….<b>NO THANK YOU!!!</b></p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Unfortunately, tapeworms aren’t the only type of parasite out there either. If they weren’t enough to make your skin crawl by themselves, there are other types of nasties as well. In fact, there are three major categories of parasites. </p>
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<ul>
<li style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Protozoa: Microscopic, single-celled organisms. Think tiny. Really tiny. Little tiny parasitic cells that live off of other cells and create all kinds of chaos. </li>
<li style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Helminths: Large, multi-cellular organisms. Think worms. Threadworms, hookworms, pinworms, tapeworms. They typically live inside a host and do their damage internally.</li>
<li style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Ectoparasites: Organisms that attach or burrow into the skin. Think skin mites, lice, ticks. They typically live on the outside of a host, burrowing just a bit into the host’s skin. Again, damage is done. These things just prefer to operate on the exterior.</li>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">There.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Feeling sufficiently yucky?</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I know I am.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">We should feel all kinds of yucky when we read such a list. After all, we know that parasites can have negative effects. Severely negative effects. From the teasing that can take place at elementary school when someone has lice to the death that can occur from a brain-eating amoeba, parasites are not something that should be taken lightly. Though there is reason to study them and know about them, I cannot see a reason why we would desire to have one. In general, parasites are bad. Really bad. Like “drop whatever you’re doing and get rid of these things as soon as possible” kind of bad. (At least that is my non-medical, internet & common sense informed opinion.)</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Last week, I discovered that I had a parasite.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I was standing in front of mirror as I often choose to do, and I was flexing my muscles. You know, admiring the pipes. Kissing the old biceps. Getting super impressed with my middle-aged strength. (Not really.) It was then that I noticed it. Something looked different. I had a new spot, a new black mark that hadn’t been there before. Further investigation was required. I needed to see closer. I grabbed my phone to zoom into the spot and take a picture.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">It was as I feared.</p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">An ectoparasite.</p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">A tick.</p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Burrowed into my skin.</p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Getting a free lunch…and lunch was me.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Now, what do you think that I did in that moment? What do you think was my response?</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I did like any rational, middle-aged, grey-haired man would do. I shrilled in a high-pitched voice, danced around waving my arms frantically, and called for my Mommy. (Ok. I didn’t do any of that either.)</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">What I did do? I went about getting it out.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">First thing. No hesitation. No time to lose. That tick was being shown the door. No long-term-meal-plan on me. I wanted rid of the thing as quickly as possible. So, out came the “Tick Twister,” a genius little piece of plastic that helps to twist the little pests right out of the skin, and away went the tick (with the help of my wife as I couldn’t quite reach it). </p>
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Gone. Flushed. Never to return again. Hasta la vista, baby.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">To me, that was the only appropriate response. Immediate removal. I wanted no part of that thing.</p>
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Why? Well, who wants Lyme disease or Powassan virus or some other kind of crazy tick illness? </p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Not me! </p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The risk of infection increases as you keep the tick in your skin for longer periods of time. The sooner you can get that sucker (literally) out, the better. Parasites are bad and they can lead to worse things. </p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Whenever I encounter a parasite in my life, instant removal is my only course of action. I see no other path. No other plan. Everything else must stop until the parasite is eradicated. Stop flexing, stop typing, stop eating, stop _____. Take care of the parasite.</p>
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But what about parasites in other areas of my life? </p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Specifically, what about parasitic thoughts? </p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Have you ever had one of those?<br />
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A thought that bores deep inside of your brain and lives by taking the life from other, healthy thoughts.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Whispers about worth and value.</p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Nudges about identity and purpose.</p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Suggestions about meaning and importance.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Parasitic thoughts can cycle through our minds like a never-ending soundtrack, asserting themselves over and over and over again.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">“You’re not good enough.” “You will never get out of this mess.” “Nobody loves you.” “Nobody cares about you.” “You have to do everything all by yourself.” “Even God doesn’t forgive you for that.” “Even God has abandoned you.”<br />
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We can let these thoughts and others like them go on repeat without ever doing a thing about them. We can listen to them again and again and again, little knowing the damage that they are wreaking, little knowing the harm that they can cause.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">These negative thoughts that we entertain, these negative messages that we allow to play, these negative ideas that we tell ourselves (sometimes even vocally) are not helpful. They are not from God. In reality, they are harmful. Perhaps they are even more harmful and wicked and “heebie-jeebie-inspiring” than the physical parasites that were mentioned above.</p>
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Why?<br />
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Parasitic, negative thoughts are bad (because they aren’t true), but they can lead to things that are worse (because they cause us to doubt <b>Who</b> we are and <b>Whose</b> we are). </p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">We need to combat parasitic thoughts as instantly and as sufficiently as we would combat a physical parasite because the effects of the thoughts can be just as bad or worse than the negative effects of hosting a physical parasite.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">First, let’s remember. Who are we?</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i>Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.</i></p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: right;"><i>~John 1:12-13</i></p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">For those who have received Jesus, for those who have believed in his name, we are children of God. Think of that for a moment! Reflect on the awe and the wonder of that statement! </p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Children of God.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">This should be at the center of our identity. This should be at the core of our being. When any thought would seem to counter this fact, when any thought would seem to suggest otherwise, that thought should not be welcome. </p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">So, let’s say a thought starts rattling around in your head. “You’re worthless.”</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Treat this like a parasite. Immediate action required. This thought should be up for immediate removal.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">“No I’m not! I’m a child of God! I’ve been adopted into God’s family!”</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">As many times as it comes up, battle it over and over and over again with what is true. We cannot allow parasitic thoughts to remain or they might lead us to question our identity, to doubt who we are as God’s children. Instead, we need to remove them, to combat them with the truth.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">These parasitic thoughts can also come against <b>Whose</b> we are.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Let’s remember. Whose are we?<br />
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We are Christ’s. </p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i>Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own;</i><span style="font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><b><i> </i></b></span><i>you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.</i></p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: right;"><i>~1 Corinthians 6:19-20</i></p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">We belong to Jesus.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">This should also be at the center of our identity as children of God. “I am not my own. I belong to Jesus.” Thoughts that suggest otherwise need attention. Thoughts that look towards self-deprecation (or self-promotion) should be handled. They should be viewed as parasites. In need of immediate removal for we don’t want worse things to come.</p>
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So, when a thought comes, “You can never do anything right.” We know that we can counter “I am not my own. I have been bought with the blood of Jesus.”</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Paul says that we are to "take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” (2 Corinthians 10:5) </p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Like them or not, parasites are a reality. They are a reality that we face in our outward, physical life as well as in our inward being. Whenever we face them, we need to deal with them. Swiftly. Quickly. With importance and authority so that nothing else worse is the result. So the next time you hear a parasitic thought whisper in your ear, do just that. Deal with it. Pull out the Tick Twister. (Quote Scripture…the weapon that we have to fight these types of things…see Ephesians 6:17) Take care of the problem before a worse one can happen. </p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: right;">~ Pastor Chris</p>Gethsemane & Middletown UM Charge Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17221740416450728007noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-64065575712590806.post-39496469857451332542021-06-02T12:30:00.004-07:002021-06-02T12:30:43.800-07:00This. Means. War. (June 6, 2021)<p><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;">We were just sitting there.</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;">Nothing super spectacular.</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;">Nothing really out of the ordinary.</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;">Just sitting together, enjoying some down time, watching a movie before getting ready for bed.</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;">Unprepared.</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;">Innocent of what was about to happen.</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;">Not ready.</span></p><p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">
But then we heard it.</p>
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The sound.</p>
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Like the faint call of trumpets being blown before battle or the mighty yell of a troop preparing to mount a siege, we heard it. </p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The sound of my enemy.</p>
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Now, you might not recognize it as such. You might hear the same noise and not know what was coming, but I did. I had heard this before. These were battle cries.<br />
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The pitter. The patter. The scratching. The scampering.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I knew what these meant. Instantly. A fight was upon me.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Right at that moment I was taken back. Back to a battle that I had fought in my early 20s. Alone in my apartment, it was me against the enemy, and I came to learn that the enemy was shrewd. Cunning. Daring. Not to be trusted.</p>
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You see, they had infiltrated my abode at that time, and I had mounted a counter-attack. I had purchased some d-CON. (This was the weapon of choice for my Grandpa in his barn.) I had set my trap, laid my weapon out, put it into use, but do you know what happened? Do you know what they did? They used it against me! The very same d-CON was moved, was placed into some of my Tupperware that I had in a drawer. Not only that, but do you know what they put in the middle of it? A cherry flavored <i>Now and Later</i> candy. A sweet, delicious, piece of <b><i>MY</i></b> candy. Right in the center of the d-CON. </p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">It was as if they were mocking me. </p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">“Here you go big fella. This cherry <i>Now and Later</i> is so good and so sweet! You can eat it. Don’t you worry about a thing. Go ahead. It’s so good! Oh yeah…try some of this green stuff too.”<br />
<br />
Yes, from the moment when we heard the sound above our heads, I knew. I remembered. It was time. The battle had resumed. The enemy could not be trusted. Not in the least. This. Meant. War.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I knew that I would do whatever it took until my enemy had been defeated, until they had been vanquished. I’d dust off my weapons of war and engage until that battle was complete. Even though I didn’t feel like it. Even though I wasn’t completely ready in that moment. Even though I would rather just watch the movie and ignore the problem, hoping that it would take care of itself. There would be no getting around it. I was in the fight, and I would continue until it was over.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Pitter. Patter. Scratch. Scamper.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Like the sound of swords clanging in the night.</p>
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The battle was upon me.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">A mouse (or perhaps mice) had once again entered into my abode.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">It was time to fight.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Now, don’t get me wrong. I don’t “hate” my enemy in this case. I don’t harbor any deep-seated angst. I’m not vehemently opposed to field mice. I just want them to stay in the field as their name implies. You see, I thought we had an understanding. A line drawn in the sand. Boundaries that had been established that weren’t to be crossed. I had agree that I would not pursue them if they remained on their side of the line. I thought they had agreed to the terms as well, but the noise proved otherwise. They had blown the battle horns, fired the first shots, they had breached the truce.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Pitter. Patter. Scratch. Scamper.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I knew what those noises meant. The mice had come. They had come to chew up my wires. They had come to leave little droppings on my counter. They had come to shred my papers, to put holes in my clothing. They had come to eat my food. Not only that, but they had come to try to poison me and my family! They had come to take any candy that we might have and place it right into a big ol’ pile of d-CON. I could not have it. There would be no rest until they have been vanquished to the fields once more. There would be no ceasing from battle until I knew that their entire ranks had been defeated. The war would rage on until they had been purged from our home.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Maybe I’m being extreme. Maybe I’m over-reacting. Maybe I should just relax and accept some kind of coexistence within our household. Mice and humans peacefully living under the same roof. What’s wrong with that picture?</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Let me think about it.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Nope. </p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I’m not over-reacting. I’m not being extreme.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Here’s how I see things. Field mice belong in the field. I’m content to leave them there. There will be no house mouse for me. No peaceful coexistence within these walls. There is a clear boundary mark, and once that has been crossed, the battle has begun.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">So long as a mouse chooses to enter into my house, I will fight against that thing until it is here no more.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">That’s it. That simple. I am at war with any mouse that chooses to sneak in here and try to eat my candy.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Pitter. Patter. Scratch. Scamper.</p>
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This. Means. War.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I guess it’s one of the disadvantages of living by a field. Sometimes a mouse decides that the house might be a nice place to live, but it’s a price that I’m willing to pay. Plus at this point, I am familiar with the signs and the sounds that the battle has begun yet again. If some paper is shredded up somewhere, I know what it means. My eyes are able to distinguish the difference between some bugs that have died or some fuzz that has shed or some mouse droppings. My ears are attuned to the typical noises of the walls creaking or of Silas walking around or of a bug bumping into a window. I know the sounds of our dehumidifier, the air conditioner and the furnace. I recognize the noise the ice maker makes when it dumps in another tray of frozen water. Unfortunately, I also am familiar with the sound that a mouse makes in the ceiling. I’ve heard it before. I will be perfectly fine if I never hear it again, but if I do I have to be ready.</p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br />
Ready whether I feel like it or not.</p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Ready whether I want to deal with it or not.</p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Ready whether I’m watching TV or taking a nap.</p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Ready in the mornin’.</p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Ready in the noontime.</p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Ready when the sun goes down.</p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Ever ready to spring into action at a moment’s notice. Ready for battle the moment it begins.</p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br />
I wonder.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">What if we were this ready to fight our spiritual battles?<br />
</p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">What if we were so familiar with the house of the Holy Spirit (i.e. our bodies…read 1 Corinthians 6:19) that whenever a sound was out of place, we would instantly recognize it and would be ready for battle?</p>
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<ul>
<li style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">We hear a voice whisper that we cannot trust God……..BOOM! No thank you! That doesn’t belong! That’s not the voice of my Savior! Ready to fight. </li>
<li style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">We have a thought, “Surely it won’t hurt just this one time…” A suggestion to cheat on our taxes or to lust after something or someone or to do something that is contrary to God’s will…………BOOM! No thank you! That does’t belong! That’s not the voice of my Savior! Ready to fight.</li>
<li style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">We feel selfish or stingy or judgmental or greedy or prideful. We feel worthless or useless or hopeless or doubt God’s love for us. We feel like nobody would like us if they knew us deep down. On and on and on……..BOOM! No thank you! That doesn’t belong! That’s not the voice of my Savior! Ready to fight.</li>
</ul>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">What if we were even more aware of sounds of the attacks of our spiritual enemy than I am aware of the sound of a mouse? What if we were so tuned into God that we instantly knew when something was off? Can you imagine?<br />
<br />
Here’s the thing, friend. Whether you feel like it or not. Whether you want to be or not. Whether you think you will be successful or not. You are in a battle. You are in a fight. You are in a spiritual war. Remember what Paul says in his letter to the Ephesians:</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i>For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.</i></p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: right;"><i>~ Ephesians 6:12</i></p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Do not fear the war. Do not fear the battle, but realize that you are in a fight and be ready. Just before this verse Paul says “Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.” (Ephesians 6:10) He tells us that we are able to be strong. Not in our own strength. Not in our own abilities, but in the Lord. Then, he lets us know that we will be given victory. He says “…after the battle you will be standing firm.” (Ephesians 6:13) You will be given victory. How? By putting on the armor of God. By being ready. By being prepared. By being so familiar with God’s voice, with God’s Word that we would know when and how to fight. (Read the whole account in Ephesians 6:10-18.)<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Lines have been crossed. Boundaries have been shattered. You are in a fight. Be ready. Be confident. Be strong in the Lord. Know that the enemy is real, but you have victory through Jesus Christ. Thanks be to God for giving us this victory!</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">So…the next time you hear…</p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br />
Pitter. Patter. Scratch. Scamper.</p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Know what it means. This. Means. War.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: right;">~ Pastor Chris</p>Gethsemane & Middletown UM Charge Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17221740416450728007noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-64065575712590806.post-38417978933696470652021-05-26T10:01:00.000-07:002021-05-26T10:01:10.006-07:00Memory (May 30, 2021)<p><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;">Memory is an interesting thing, isn’t it? </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;"> </span></p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Things can escape our memory, or we can have our memory jogged. We can take a trip down memory lane, or we can suffer from a memory lapse. We can be overwhelmed by a flood of memories, or we can be so close to remembering something that it is on the tip of our tongue. Some of us have the memories of an elephant. Others of us have good memories…they are just short. There are things like collective memories. Muscle memory. False memories. We can memorize things by rote or by heart or by association. There are folks who have a mind like a steel trap while others would forget their heads if they weren’t attached. There are occasions that are etched into memory for all time and there are others that are entirely forgettable.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Sometimes, memory is of vital importance. Other times, it isn’t. For instance, if you drive a vehicle, it is of vital importance to remember that a red traffic light means stop. In fact, this is so important most of us don’t even really have to think about it once it has been ingrained into our driving patterns. It becomes part of our deep, implicit memory, formed and operated upon without effort. Once we have driven (or even just ridden in vehicles) for a while, we don’t even have to think about what to do when a light turns red. We have experienced this so much that we just stop. Still, this aspect of driving is crucial for us to remember. When we forget to stop at red lights, bad things happen. This functional memory is of vital importance, but there are other aspects of driving that typically aren’t so important…like remembering the make, model and color of each car stopped at the red light with you. I drove on Route 30 from Irwin to Greensburg yesterday. I stopped at multiple red lights. There were at least 20 cars stopped with me at different points. Maybe I could remember 1 right now. Maybe? Probably not. I know that I would remember 0 after some more time passes. But does it really matter? No. There are many, many, many things in life in which we won’t remember the aspects or the details, and that is OK. Sometimes, memory isn’t that important.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Anyway, why am I writing about memory in the first place?</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I forget. I’m hungry. What’s for supper?</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">(Sorry. I couldn’t help myself.)</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I’m writing about memory because we are approaching Memorial Day, and that is a day when we are asked to remember. </p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Memorial Day is a day when we, as a nation, are called to remember the price that many have paid for us to live as we do. We are called to remember the lives that were given, the sacrifices made, the families that have forever been changed by those who gave of their lives in service to their country. We are to remember the often-repeated cliché that still holds truth, that “freedom isn’t free.” </p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Memorial Day is a day for us to remember, and I am thankful for the reminder. I am thankful for the reminder for us as a nation to pause, to remember, to celebrate those that have given their all on our behalf. It is a good thing for us to do. It is an important thing for us to do. However, even though it is good and important for us to be reminded of the sacrifice of others on Memorial Day, I imagine that there are those who need no such holiday to jog a memory. </p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">There are parents who don’t need Memorial Day to remember their children who have died while serving the nation.</p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">There are children who don’t need Memorial Day to remember the hole that their parents have left.</p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">There are spouses who don’t need Memorial Day to be reminded of the loss of their partner.</p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">There are women and men who have served alongside of their fellow soldiers who don’t need Memorial Day to be reminded of the cost of freedom.</p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">There are cousins and neighbors, friends and relatives, those who have experienced personal loss who don’t need Memorial Day to remember.</p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">They remember all of the time.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">For some, every day serves as a Memorial Day because the reminders are present consistently. They are reminded by the empty places at the table, by the rooms that are no longer used, the calls that are no longer made, the letters that are no longer received. There are memories and reminders throughout their day-to-day life and the Memorial Day holiday is not necessary for them to remember. Instead, the memory is deep. It is ingrained. It is a part of the fabric of their very being, even more so than stopping at a red light is a part of what it means to remember how to drive. </p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">For others, the loss isn’t as personal, the grief isn’t as present. Memorial Day serves as a reminder, but then it fades away like the memories of the other cars stopped at yesterday’s red light with us. It reminds us that it is important for us to remember the sacrifices, but then we forget until the holiday circles around again. </p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Yes, Memorial Day can be important as it jogs our collective memory, but it would also serve us well if our memory went beyond Memorial Day, if we remembered more consistently.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">If we consistently remembered that our freedom were bought with a price, how might that impact the way we used that freedom?</p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">If it were in the forefront of our memory that there are those who continue to walk in grief and in pain, how might that impact the way we treat one another?</p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">If remembering those who have served unto their death extended beyond Memorial Day within our nation, how might that influence the way we act and behave collectively? </p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">In our country, what would life look like if we were consistent in remembering the lives that were sacrificed on our behalf? </p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I imagine things would be better, and yet, we often forget. We often forget the price that was paid that we might have life. So, we need days like Memorial Day for us to remember.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Sadly, this type of forgetfulness, this failure to remember also occurs in our walk with Jesus.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">We often forget the price that was paid for our freedom.</p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">We often forget the life that was laid down for our sake.</p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">We often forget the blood that was shed, the life that was surrendered.</p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">We often don’t experience or see the reminders in our day-to-day life as signal of God’s grace and God’s mercy. Few of us look to the empty chairs within our homes and picture Jesus. Few of us hear of betrayal and think of our Lord. Few of us are reminded in a constant day-in and day-out way about the sacrifice of our Christ upon the cross. </p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Not only do we forget the sacrifice, but we also forget the promises of life that are offered through it.<br />
We forget the promise of God’s presence through each moment (even through our grief).</p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">We forget the promise of God’s Spirit.</p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">We forget the life that we have been offered, the freedom that we have received, the love that we walk in, our role in the Body of Christ, the way we are called to serve.</p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">We forget to humble ourselves and be obedient, to flee from temptation, to walk as those who are called to be blameless before the Lord.</p>
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We forget so many things that the Lord has done for us and with us and through us.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">And yet, it is important to remember. It is important for us to remember in a way that moves beyond celebrations like Memorial Day, an impersonal holiday that is remembered once a year, to something more personal, something more real, something much deeper…like those for whom Memorial Day is an everyday affair.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Memory is an interesting thing.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">One moment we can be as sharp as a tack. The next as dull as a butter knife. We can remember our favorite pair of socks that wore out (mine were a pair that had a picture of a banana on the front and read “I’m bananas”), but we can forget to be there for people on important dates and holidays. We can maybe remember to thank Jesus for the cross on Good Friday or to celebrate the resurrection on Easter, but we can forget to walk with Jesus all of the other days of the year.</p>
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Perhaps this is why the Scripture says this:<span style="font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><b> </b></span></p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i>Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.</i><span style="font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><b><i> </i></b></span><i>Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. </i><span style="font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><b><i> </i></b></span></p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i>These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. </i><span style="font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><b><i> </i></b></span><i>Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. </i><span style="font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><b><i> </i></b></span><i>Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. </i><span style="font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><b><i> </i></b></span><i>Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.</i></p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: right;"><i>~ Deuteronomy 6:4-9</i></p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">According to this passage, it isn’t enough for us to remember every once in a while. It isn’t enough to have a “oh yeah…we should remember God” day once a year like is sometimes done with Memorial Day or Christmas or Easter. Instead, our relationship with God should be an all the time ordeal, a personal affair where it impacts our everyday life, not just an occasional holiday. </p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Remembering God moves well beyond the knowing of unimportant details of life (like knowing the other vehicles at a red light) straight into knowing that which is most essential to living (like how to stop when the light is red). This is life-changing, completely important, vital stuff. In fact, this was so important to God, that the Lord even offered some memory tips, some ways that we might be sure to remember.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Put the commands upon your heart. Impress them upon your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you travel. Tie them as symbols on your hands and your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and your gates.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">MAKE REMINDERS to REMEMBER!</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Have your life in God be so a part of your day-to-day existence that you can’t help but to remember. Make God so a part of your every waking moment that you are unable to forget.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">This Memorial Day, let’s remember. Let’s remember those who have gone on before, their lives, their sacrifices, their gift, but let’s not stop there. Let’s remember Jesus. Let’s remember His life, His love, His sacrifice, His gift. Let’s remember how Jesus went to the cross for each of us, personally, and let’s make it a personal part of our everyday existence. Let’s put reminders of the promises of God everywhere we can think. Let’s share in stories, read Scriptures, and point to Jesus in everything that we do. After all, Jesus is the One who brings life out of death so that there is hope for life eternal, even for those we are remembering on Memorial Day.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: right;">~ Pastor Chris</p>Gethsemane & Middletown UM Charge Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17221740416450728007noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-64065575712590806.post-66654838323484366092021-05-19T11:51:00.002-07:002021-05-19T11:51:39.632-07:00Feeding Crows (May 23, 2021)<p><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;">836.</span></p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">That’s the current record.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">836.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">According to the American Birding Association, if you want to obtain a record for personally identifying the most species of birds within the United States during a single calendar year, that is the number that you would have to beat. 836.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">836 different species of birds. All personally identified by sight or by sound over the course of one year within the US.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">My mind can barely comprehend this type of feat. I feel like I’ve accomplished something if I recognize an occasional yellow finch or if I get a glimpse of an oriole. </p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">836 DIFFERENT SPECIES OF BIRDS????? All within the US? All identified within the course of a year by one gentleman?</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I don’t even know how to begin to process this type of information. It is just beyond my abilities to compute how this is physically possible (or even that desirable…it definitely falls outside of my passions). Still, the fact remains. John Weigel has done it. He holds the record for the United States Big Year. 836.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Apparently, I have lived the majority of my life unaware of a couple of things. One, there is a difference between birding and bird watching. (Birding…when you travel to see birds. Bird watching…you notice birds while traveling.) Two, there is a thing called a “big year,” where you travel with the specific goal of identifying as many birds as possible within a year. This can be done within the US, where 836 is the current record. Or, it can be done within another geographical area…like across the entire globe, where the current record sits at 6,852 species by Arjan Dwarshuis. </p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Who knew? Maybe you did. I surely did not.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I’m neither a birder nor am I a prolific bird watcher. Granted, I enjoy seeing cardinals. I like catching glimpses of blue jays or eastern bluebirds. I’ll even notice a hummingbird from time to time. For the most part, I enjoy birds (unless they are dropping their business somewhere that I would prefer for it not to be). I enjoy their songs. I enjoy thinking about their ability to fly. I enjoy their colors. I even enjoy their variety. </p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Still, I am no ornithologist. I’m not even intentional about my enjoyment of our fine-feathered friends. No bird feeders. No bird houses. No bird baths. No binoculars (unless I happen to see something that I consider extraordinary). No field guides. No notebooks to journal my sightings. Nothing like that. </p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Do you know the most that I do?</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I’ll occasionally throw some bread that has gone stale outside of our window in hopes that I might see something special. Sometimes, I think, “Maybe this crusty old bread will attract an amazing bird. Perhaps I’ll get to see a tufted titmouse.” (OK…I probably wouldn’t know a tufted titmouse if it was pecking me in the toe, but I had to put something there.)</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">That’s it. Stale bread. The occasional stale chip. Discarded in a pile with the tiny hope of catching the glimpse of some pretty-looking bird if I happen to be walking by the window at the right time. No further effort.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Typically, my efforts, even though they are very minimal, pay off to a certain degree. The bread gets eaten, and birds come. I’ve seen some cardinals enjoying some Italian. I’ve seen some blue jays nibbling on some Lays. I’ve even seen some sparrows scarfing down some Cheetos. It’s working! <br />
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But do you know what bird excited me the most? Do you know what bird brought the biggest smile to my face?</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">A crow.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Plain. Old. Ordinary. Normal. Black. Crow.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">It brought about a huge smile! I was overjoyed to see a crow snacking on the stale treats it had been presented.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">“A crow! You mean to tell me you got excited about a crow!” Yes. A crow.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">You see, I have fond memories of crows. Specifically, I have fond memories of my Grandpa feeding crows. At the same time everyday, Grandpa would get up from his chair and exclaim, “Well, I’m off to feed my birds!” Then, he’d head outside with all of the food scraps to feed the crows. He’d take them pieces of fat, bits of leftover mayonnaise, scraps of food that went bad, whatever he could find, and he’d set them in his back yard. Every day. Same time. Same place. He kept his appointment, and the crows did too. They’d come and wait up in the trees or on the telephone wire until Grandpa left. Then, they’d swoop down to enjoy their meal. Day after day after day. Grandpa would take out the scraps. The crows would come and eat them. For years, Grandpa would feed his crows.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Yep. Crows. Not hummingbirds or bluebirds or cardinals or jays or anything flashy. Grandpa fed crows, and he would laugh about it all of the time. “How do you like my birds, Chris? Aren’t they great?” he’d ask with a huge smile and a twinkle in his eye. “I wonder how many will come tomorrow?”<br />
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Grandpa knew that what he was doing wasn’t “normal” bird watching behavior. He knew that most people seek to attract the “pretty” birds, the ones with all of the vibrant colors. People will put up hummingbird feeders or try to attract orioles or finches or the birds that are colorful. Not Grandpa. He preferred the crows, and he was fine if this was considered “unusual” behavior.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">You see, Grandpa saw value in crows beyond beauty, beyond aesthetics. He would talk about how smart they were, how they would remember. (Scientists say that they are as smart as a seven-year old child. Able to problem-solve, remember people, and use tools.) He’d talk about how reliable they were, how they would come everyday at the same time. They knew when to show up. He’d also talk about how useful they were, how they would eat all of the things that he didn’t want spoiling or stinking up the garbage. For Grandpa, crows were an intelligent, consistent, and practical bird that would help him with cleaning up. (Try asking that of a hummingbird. No! They just want your sugar water!) Grandpa was able to look beyond the feathers and the fluff, seeing value in a bird that most people consider to be a nuisance.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">It makes me wonder. How often do we do the same?</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">How often do we see the nice car, the designer clothing, the flawless face and want to attract that type of person? How often do we see the plumage of success and equate value? How often do we hear the sweet sounds of a pleasant voice and associate worth? How often do we judge based on outward appearance, whatever those may be, good or bad, and we proceed based on those appearances?</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I fear that we behave in this way more often than we’d like to admit. We make judgments based on hair cuts or color, whether someone is wearing the latest trend, if someone can afford a proper suit, and on and on and on and on. We use all kinds of factors and variables to make judgements and to assign worth to people based on external perceptions, sometimes instantaneously, and we rarely look beyond them. We judge using external measurements. Not so with God.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">This is how God judges:</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i>“The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”</i></p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: right;"><i>~ 1 Samuel 16:7</i></p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The Lord looks at the heart.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">For us, this should serve as a reminder in a least a couple of ways. One, we should be mindful of how we are “looking” at others. Are we judging based on external realities? Are we drawing conclusions based on external factors? Or, are we asking God to reveal to us the heart? Even if the appearance is off, or the words aren’t quite right, or the behaviors aren’t 100% what we would expect, have we sought to “see” the heart? Have we sought to get below the surface? </p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Two, have we applied this standard of judgment to our own lives? I don’t even want to think about how much money is spent per year on diets and exercise programs and plastic surgery and image management and on and on and on. Some of that isn’t all bad; however, physical appearance, success, financial freedom, etc. isn’t the criteria by which we will be judged. Instead, God sees the heart. How are we doing in that department? Are we spending time in allowing God to mold our heart to be more like his own? Are we concerned with our own inward beings more so than external appearances? </p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I don’t know about you, but I have some leftovers that have gone bad, some food that has spoiled, some scraps that need to be taken care of. I have some thoughts and ways of judging that do not align with God. It is time for those to be set out and removed. It is time to quit judging based on the external and instead ask God for a view of the internal. It is time to feed the crows.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">How about you? Are you willing to look after things that may not be as attractive or initially appealing but will ultimately be more beneficial? Are you willing to get rid of some waste and thoughts that will just continue to stink up your life? Are you willing to take a lesson from my Grandpa?</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I hope that you will join me in this endeavor, and perhaps the next time you see a crow eating an old crusty piece of bread, it will put a smile on your face as well. </p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: right;">~ Pastor Chris</p>Gethsemane & Middletown UM Charge Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17221740416450728007noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-64065575712590806.post-21502955851963398762021-05-12T07:58:00.000-07:002021-05-12T07:58:04.453-07:00Some Line Graphs (May 16, 2021)<p><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;">Have you ever considered plotting out your life on a line graph?</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;">What would you measure?</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;">What data would you track?</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;">How would you define “success” or “failure”?</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;">If your life could be laid out on a simple graph, what would it look like?</span></p><p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">
Now, before I go further, let’s deal with some obvious things. In general, line graphs are pretty simple, pretty straightforward. Typically, they measure two variables and that is it. For instance, a common line graph that is used at the doctor’s office (especially when you are young and growing) is age vs. height. Age will be plotted along the X-axis (the one that runs horizontally across the bottom…for those of us who haven’t been in math class for a while), and height will be plotted along the Y-axis (the one that runs vertically). As the years pass and data is entered, the line graph can easily demonstrate an average growth rate. When someone is a year old, they are ___ tall, when they are two, they are ___ tall. On and on it goes, the line increasing upward until it plateaus. This type of information is helpful, especially if you compare it to averages. Lay an individual line graph over a chart of averages, and voila. You can reasonably predict how tall your kid is going to be. (In our experience, we’ve been raising someone who is on track to be pretty tall. He’s always been at the top of that graph, and we haven’t seen him slowing down yet.) Line graphs are beneficial. They can be a helpful, visual aid in looking at your life and how it compares to others and to general trends.</p>
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Though line graphs are beneficial, they are also limited. Two sets of data. Not a lot of complexity. Helpful and simple, but incomplete…especially when dealing with people. Sure a line graph can show growth and be used to get a reasonable expectation for the future, but it doesn’t show any other factors. For instance, what if Silas stopped liking food and didn’t eat for a long time? How would that effect his overall height? Or, what if he happened to find some kind of super-food that he really, really liked and it had some kind of positive growth effect? </p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">You get the idea. We are complex people who live in complex environments. Simple tools like line graphs are helpful, but incomplete. Get it? Good. Let’s move on. Back to something that helps us get closer to the point.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Recently, the Bible-reading plan that I use has had me reading in 1 Samuel. Right now, I’m reading about the life of King Saul. Saul’s story is one that I have read before. The account of his life is one with which I have some familiarity, and yet, I am always struck by the trajectory of his life. I am always saddened and caught off guard by the path that Saul followed. In particular, I am effected by two different trends that are evidenced within his life. His relationship with God & his humility. These two things are what often stand out for me with King Saul, and for some reason, this time I thought about them in terms of some line graphs. This isn’t how I usually think or process things, but hey…let’s see how it works.</p>
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First, let’s look at Saul’s humility.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">In the beginning of his story, Saul was described as a humble guy. In fact, when the prophet Samuel told him that he was to be king, this is how he responded:</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i>“But am I not a Benjamite, from the smallest tribe of Israel, and is not my clan the least of all the clans of the tribe of Benjamin? Why do you say such a thing to me?”</i></p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: right;"><i>~ 1 Samuel 9:21</i></p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">When God uses Samuel to tell Saul that he is called, that he has a job, that he is to be king, Saul responds as many first do to God…with humility. Who am I? I am not worthy of such a task. I am not deserving of such a call. God, how could you use me? Me?</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Saul begins his journey as king with a mentionable dose of humility. Somewhere within him, he knows that he is not worthy of this role, of this honor. He is not deserving of the calling of God upon his life. For arguments sake, let’s give Saul a “100%” humility ranking at the start. No, he wasn’t 100% humble, but let’s give him that ranking right at the beginning of his calling.<br />
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Then, let’s look further down the path. Let’s look at Saul somewhere in the middle of his calling, during his reign as a king. How would his humility rank then? </p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Quite frankly? His humility tanked. Rapidly. Though we don’t know a lot about the timeframe or what happened previously, look at what it says in 1 Samuel 13. (Just so we are familiar with the timeline in 1 Samuel, Saul was called by God in Chapter 9, Anointed and made king in Chapter 10, Rescues a city and is confirmed king in Chapter 11. Samuel makes an address in Chapter 12, and then we get to Chapter 13. Some time has passed as Jonathan, Saul’s son, is now in the picture and is fighting alongside Saul in battle.) </p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i>He waited seven days, the time set by Samuel; but Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and Saul’s men began to scatter. </i><span style="font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><b><i> </i></b></span><i>So he said, “Bring me the burnt offering and the fellowship offerings.” And Saul offered up the burnt offering.</i></p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: right;"><i>~ 1 Samuel 13:8-9</i></p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">At this point, Saul had been given directions by God to wait for Samuel’s arrival before an offering would be made for the Lord. Saul chose not to wait. He looked at the circumstances of his men beginning to scatter. He looked around for Samuel and thought that God had not come through. He looked at himself. And…he took matters into his own hands. No longer did he view himself as some little Benjamite unable to fulfill the calling of God. Instead, Saul acted as if God was the One who could not follow through with His plans. Saul was the only one that was able to make things right. Saul was the only one who could act. Now, instead of being humble before the Lord and waiting as God directed, Saul was taking matters into his own hands without regarding what God had said. He was even willing to step outside of his role as king and take up the role of king and priest. Humility rating? 10% at best.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Now, when we tank we have the opportunity to bounce back, the chance to rectify our situation. We fall off of the diet wagon, we have the chance to get back onto it. We stumble in our Bible reading, we have the chance to start again. I believe that Saul had the chance to humble himself before the Lord, to ask God to work within his heart to make him humble once more, to rectify this flaw that came up in his life. Unfortunately, Saul did not choose that path. Instead, in general, he continued on a downward path in terms of humility.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">As Saul’s humility waned and his pride grew, he became so infatuated with maintaining his kingdom, his rule, his position of authority that he openly fought against God. Saul became so prideful that he would stop at nothing to secure his place on the throne. Not only did he threaten and chase after David, the one who was anointed to be his successor, but he also punished anyone who helped David along the way…even if they were servants of the Lord.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i>Then the king ordered the guards at his side: “Turn and kill the priests of the Lord, because they too have sided with David. They knew he was fleeing, yet they did not tell me.”</i></p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: right;"><i>~ 1 Samuel 22:17</i></p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">“Turn and kill the priests of the Lord, because they too have sided with David.” This is Saul? The one who started by saying he was not worthy? The one who started by saying that he was a nobody from a small tribe? The one who started in humility? Now, he is at the point where he is not only willing to step outside of the boundaries put forth by God in terms of the timing and the offering of sacrifices, he is actively killing those who would support David, even if they are priests of God. Humility rating? 0%.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">If plotted on a line graph, Saul’s humility plot might look something like this: </p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p><p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span> <span> <span> <span> </span></span></span></span></p><p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><span><span><span></span></span></span><span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><img src="blob:https://www.blogger.com/9a35cddb-2fa4-4a03-80f4-e626ee4e058a" /></p><p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Granted, there would be little blips and bumps, times when he acted with more humility than others. Still, in over-simplified terms, Saul’s perceived humility started off great and decreased rapidly over the course of his reign as king.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Do you know what else happened? </p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">His relationship with God took the same path, followed the same trajectory. As his humility decreased, his relationship with God decreased…so much so that towards the end of his life, Saul said this:</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i>“I am in great distress,” Saul said. “The Philistines are fighting against me, and God has departed from me. He no longer answers me, either by prophets or by dreams.”</i></p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: right;"><i>~ 1 Samuel 28:15</i></p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Saul, who was once chosen by God and spoken to through the prophet Samuel had now come to the point where his relationship with God was in shatters. The line graph for this data would look remarkably similar.</p><p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><img src="blob:https://www.blogger.com/0a9bcab3-0da5-4383-85c6-2b834d9c7250" /> </p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Of course, you can’t really say what caused what. Did his lack of humility cause the relationship to suffer? Yes. Did the relationship suffering cause a lack of humility? Yes. These two things were inter-related. Not only that, but the graphs and the comparison over-simplify the complex nature of Saul’s life. Regardless, Saul who started in humility, ended in pride. He who started in dependence, in relationship with God, ended in independence and separation.</p>
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What about you? What about your life? What data would you plot? What are the significant factors that you are tracking? What would a line graph of your life indicate? How is your humility? How is your pride? How is your relationship? Are there areas that are decreasing that need to be turned around?</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">My prayer is that we would learn from Saul. I pray that we would seek God will all of our heart, that we would serve the Lord in humility all of our days. My prayer is that our line graph for humility and for our relationship with God would show just the opposite of Saul, and that we would ever be increasing in them both as we fulfill our calling and grow in love of Christ.</p><p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><img src="blob:https://www.blogger.com/8662cb2e-b956-4dbe-8061-f7f91a688ffb" /></p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: right;"> ~ Pastor Chris</p>Gethsemane & Middletown UM Charge Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17221740416450728007noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-64065575712590806.post-26732044222146107452021-05-04T10:39:00.002-07:002021-05-04T10:39:26.564-07:00Awaken (May 9, 2021)<p><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;">Are you a morning person?</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;">An early bird?</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;">Do you have the “early to bed, early to rise, makes a person healthy, wealthy and wise” philosophy?</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;">Do you just bound out of bed before the rooster has a chance to crow, rip-roaring and raring to go?</span></p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Or, are you more of an evening-type individual? A night owl? Do you have the “early to rise and early to bed makes a person healthy, wealthy and dead” philosophy? Do you drag yourself out of bed at the crack of noon, and even then it’s hard to get moving?</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The early bird vs. the night owl. The early riser vs. the late riser. For years there has been a debate about which is better, which is more productive. Is it better to get moving straight away so that you don’t “burn daylight” or is it better to do more in the evening, in the cool of the night? Is it better to quote Benjamin Franklin (the early riser) or James Thurber (the late riser)?</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">It used to be that this answer was pretty simple, pretty straightforward…especially if you were a person whose livelihood revolved around farming, or if you lived in a time before electricity. Daylight only happened for so long. Sleeping during daylight hours was counter-productive as you couldn’t make up the work in the evening. There was no option for working at night. Benjamin Franklin had it right. If you want to get work done, if you want to be productive, get up early. </p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">These days, things have changed. Electricity and modern inventions have made working into the evening more feasible, more realistic. With so much being done online and electronically, it makes much less difference if your report is completed at 10am or 10pm. Even in farming, practices of spraying and planting in the evening are increasing. The picture has become much less clear. Does the early bird get the worm or does the second mouse get the cheese? </p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">In reality, at least when it comes to sleep patterns, it probably makes very little difference. A person can get up at 5 in the morning after going to bed at 8 the previous evening and still be lazy, or someone can get up at 5 in the morning and accomplish a ton. Likewise, someone can get up at 1pm after going to bed at 4am and be lazy, ore they can get up at 1pm and accomplish a ton. Though sleep schedule and preference can make a difference in some circumstances, particularly depending upon the job that you’d like to accomplish or the people that you need to meet/work together with, it really isn’t the primary issue that we need to be addressing. If someone prefers to wake up at 4am, great. If someone prefers to go to sleep at 4am, great. The more important question we need to be addressing is whether or not we are truly awakened. When we get out of bed are we truly awake? Are we awake to the things of God and do we set about accomplishing them each day? Are we using the hours that we have been given for good, for holy things, for light or are we wasting the hours that we have with evil, with wickedness, with the dark?</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">To me, that is a much more important question than the issue of the time we get up and the time we go to sleep. The real question…are we awake when we are up? Are we really awakened to the presence of God in our lives? Are we able to follow Jesus during each day that we have been given?</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">In his letter to the Romans, the Apostle Paul says it this way:</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i>And do this, understanding the present time: The hour has already come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. </i></p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: right;"><i>~ Romans 13:11-12</i></p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The hour has already come for you to wake from your slumber.</p>
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The time is upon us.</p>
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The time is now.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">We need to be awakened.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Not just physically, but spiritually. We need to be spiritually awakened to the things of God within our lives. We need to be awakened to the salvation of Jesus that has been given to us and the task that lies before us. The night is nearly over. The day is almost here. Let’s put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. It’s time to get up!</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Whenever I was in high school, waking up in the morning was not my favorite thing in the world. In fact, I had a pretty hard time with getting out of bed for school. It took two alarm clocks and one Mom. I’d set one alarm clock right beside my bed. Typically, I’d turn that one off without even realizing what was happening. Roll over and smack the thing. Go back to sleep. Then, the other alarm clock would go off across the room. I’d drag my sorry carcass over to it and would turn it off as well. Sometimes, that was sufficient, and I’d be up. Other times, I needed more. I needed Mom. If both clocks didn’t work, and I was going to be late, Mom would step in and do whatever it took. Gentle reminders, “Honey you need to get up to go to school.” Little shakes of the shoulder, “Sweetie it’s time to get moving.” If that didn’t work, she would elevate to the next level. Foot tickling or blanket removal. If those efforts didn’t achieve the goal, she’d bring out the big guns. Water. Drip. Drip. Drip. Drip. Right on my forehead. (It’s very difficult to sleep with water dripping on your forehead.) Whatever it took to get me moving, for me to be awakened, that’s what happened. After all, I had a task to perform, a job to do. School lay before me, and it was important that I was awake to participate.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Sometimes it can be hard to get up. It can be hard to be awakened. We feel comfortable in our slumber, and we don’t wish to be disturbed. Regardless, we need to recognize that the alarm is ringing. The buzzer is buzzing. Both of them. The one right next to the bed as well as the one across the room. Wake up sleeper! Open your eyes! It’s time to get moving! Put aside the deeds of darkness. Do away with the wickedness that is holding you back. Awake to the things of Jesus. Dress in the armor of light.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Paul continues:</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i>Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh.</i></p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: right;"><i>~ Romans 13:13-14</i></p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">It’s easy to read a passage like this and immediately think in terms of behavior modification or in terms of a list of things that we are to refrain from as followers of Jesus. No carousing. No drunkenness. No sexual immorality. No debauchery. No dissension. No jealousy. Staying away from these things is good, is advisable; however, if all we get from this passage is a list of “don’ts,” then we are likely still asleep. We’ve likely missed part of the point. Yes, there are behaviors that we should refrain from, and Paul makes a list of some of them here; however, there is more to waking up than that. Do you see it? Do you see what Paul wants for us, what it looks like to be awake?</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Being clothed in Jesus Christ.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Completely covered in Jesus.</p>
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Completely alive, completely awake in the love of the Lord.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Having the attitude of Jesus, the mindset of Jesus, the concerns of Jesus. Being no longer worried about how we might gratify the desires of the flesh but focusing on the workings of the Holy Spirit within our lives.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I fear that there are a lot of times in my life when I have appeared to be “awake,” but I was really just sleep walking. There have been occasions where it looked like I was living, where I was active, where I was doing the right things or saying the right things or being in the right places, but on the inside I was trying to fulfill the inward desires of my flesh more than I was being clothed with Christ. I was going through some motions still asleep, needing to hear the alarm, to respond to the shaking, to bound out of bed from the water being dripped on my head.</p>
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Friend, it is time to wake up.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">It is time to be awakened to the things of God in your life. Will this mean that there are some behaviors that you have to change? Perhaps. Even more than that, it will mean that you are clothed in Jesus. That Jesus is your covering. That Jesus is your protection. That Jesus is within your every thought. That your mindset is the Lord’s. That your attitude is the Lord’s. That each step you take is the Lord’s.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Can you hear the alarm sounding?</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Can you hear the voices calling?</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">It doesn’t matter if it is 4am or 4pm when you are reading this, if you’ve just gotten out of bed or if you’re about to hit this sheets. It doesn’t matter if you are early on in your life or if you are entering your twilight. The time is now.</p>
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Will you ask God to awaken you?</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Will you ask the Lord to move within you?</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Will you put on the armor of light?</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Will you allow Jesus to clothe you?</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">….or do I need to go and get some water?</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: right;"> ~ Pastor Chris</p>Gethsemane & Middletown UM Charge Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17221740416450728007noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-64065575712590806.post-66944170096613525302021-04-28T12:54:00.002-07:002021-04-28T12:54:15.361-07:00An Unused Gift (May 2, 2021)<p><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;">Have you ever received a gift and were super excited about it? </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;"> </span></p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Maybe it was the latest tech gizmo. Perhaps you were cutting-edge in the 1980s. You were right at the forefront of technological advances, and your family knew it. So they splurged. They purchased you a portable telephone for $4000. You received “the brick”, a Motorola 8000x. At 2.5lbs, this was giant innovation in the world of communications. After a 10-hour charge, you were able to talk for 30 minutes from wherever you wished before the phone needed charged again. Receiving this gift, you were excited. You knew that it would revolutionize your life, that it would change your existence. You knew that you would use this cell phone each and every day for years upon years upon years.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Maybe tech isn’t your thing. Perhaps you get excited about clothing. Do you still remember the excitement over receiving your favorite shirt, the one you had been longing after? The shiny, pearl-snap buttons. The big wide collar. The orange, brown, and yellow zig-zag pattern. The polyester. It was great! It was your favorite shirt. You knew that you’d wear this shirt at least once a week for years upon years upon years.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Ok. So maybe tech and fashion weren’t your deal. Maybe you are a kitchen person. You like the things that help you to make or to serve food. For you, it was your first set of Tupperware. The pea-green containers with the clear lids. The cute little sound they make when you “burped” them just right. Yes. That Tupperware was the best gift ever! It would always find a home in your kitchen.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">If you are like me, there are many times in life when you have been blessed with some pretty neat gifts. Toys that you were excited about when you were a kid. Clothes that you were excited about as an adult. Technology that you felt would make your life easier. Things for the kitchen that would be beneficial to your way of life. Items that would enhance your hobbies. The list goes on and on and on. For most people within the US, we have had the privilege of receiving a large variety of material things. Things that we have wanted. Things that we have needed. Things that we have felt that we could not live without.</p>
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You know what happens to all of these things, right?</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">They don’t last. The cutting-edge cell phone is quickly replaced with one that is even more cutting-edge. What was once incredible technology quickly becomes out-of-date. Fashion? Forget about it. If you want to be up on the current fashion trends, the market demands that you are constantly changing. What is in is out and in again before you know it. Almost as soon as you buy a shirt it is out of style. Plus, even if you aren’t worried about style, you know things don’t last. Stains, spills, rips, tears. Eventually the nicest pair of jeans will need to be retired. Material things fade. They deteriorate. They perish. They don’t last. Even Tupperware gets cracked or the lids get lost or it gets left at the church pot-luck (which I hope is something that can happen again at some point in the future). </p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The best material gifts (as well as the worst ones), the ones that we were the most excited to receive just don’t last. They go out of style. They get unused. They break. They get lost…or, in some cases, we just forget about them.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">This past Christmas, I purchased a gift for our family that I thought might revolutionize the way that we cook, the way we eat. I purchased a pressure cooking, slow cooking, yogurt making, vegetable steaming, sautéing, baking, roasting, broiling, dehydrating, air fryer. We were excited. </p>
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Now, to be clear, the gift of this multi-functional air fryer was given to the family as a whole because I knew that we would all enjoy the food that it would make, but I also knew that the appliance couldn’t be given by itself. Something more needed to be attached to the gift…the promise that I would be using it, especially in terms of the air frying. This was not a gift that either Silas or Christa would enjoy if I had given it with the expectation that they would be cooking me food in the thing. That would not have been received with excitement. No, I gave an air fryer, and I gave the promise that whenever we wanted air-fried food, I would do it. We were excited to see how this new type of cooking would change the way we eat.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I’m betting at this point you have it pretty well figured out where I’m headed with my example. Since purchasing said air fryer, the one that would revolutionize our cooking and eating, very few things have been air fried. Granted, we’ve used other aspects of the appliance (such as using it to pressure cook, call for pizza, fold the laundry, etc., etc.), but air frying? Not so much.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Call it laziness. Call it forgetfulness. Call it whatever you like. The fact remains. I purchased an air fryer. We were excited. Now, just a little over four months later, the excitement has faded, and the air fryer is mostly forgotten. It has been added to the list of gifts that offer little lasting value in the grand scheme of life.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Now, at this point I could go a couple of ways in the devotional. We could continue to talk about materialistic goals and dreams and how they really aren’t that important or meaningful. We could talk about commercialism. We could talk about how to give better gifts, or alternative gift-giving strategies. Or, we could talk about something else. Turn down a little different path. Let’s do that.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Here’s what I am wondering…</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">How often do we receive a spiritual gift from the Lord that we leave unused or is forgotten? How often does God give us something, even something that we show initial excitement about, and after a while we just kind of put it on a shelf and forget that we had ever been given that gift in the first place? Do we forget about the spiritual blessings that we have received in the same manner that we have the tendency to forget about the physical blessings that have been given to us?</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Just this week, I saw a small conversation on prayer with NT Wright (an author and New Testament theologian among other things). In this conversation, he spoke about the gift of prayer and the effectiveness of prayer within his own life, particularly in situations where he did not have a clue about what he was doing. For me, it was a worthwhile couple of minutes, and I was interested to hear what he was saying; however, as he spoke, my mind was directed along a slightly different path. </p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The gift of prayer.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The <b>GIFT</b> of prayer.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The gift of <b>PRAYER</b>.</p>
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This is a gift that I have been given by God. This is something that I have been handed by the Father through the sacrifice of the Son and can exercise in the power of the Spirit. I have been given a <b>GIFT! </b>Bolded. All caps. Emphasized. Of <b>PRAYER! </b>Also bolded. All caps. Emphasized. I have been given the opportunity to converse with God. Me. In a personal and meaningful way. With the expectation that God hears! With the expectation that God speaks! What a remarkable, amazing, incredible gift! This trumps a giant box filled with a cell phone, shirt, Tupperware, air fryer and chocolates! </p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Unfortunately, as with other gifts in my life, this gift of prayer has seldom been used to its full potential (if it has <b><i>ever</i></b> been used to full potential). Much like the aforementioned air fryer, I will at times pull it out to accomplish something or another, but true air frying…not so much. Even though I have gone through phases of excitement concerning prayer (You mean that I get to talk to the Creator of the universe!!!!), there are also occasions where I kind of put prayer on a shelf, where it is neglected to gathering dust. So much potential sitting there wasted.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">When E. Stanley Jones (an influential missionary, writer, evangelist) wrote about his life and his “success”, one of the things that he mentioned was prayer. For him, prayer was crucial, prayer was central. Prayer was so important that he would dedicate an hour in the morning as well as an hour in the evening to pray. The rest of his day, the rest of his life depended upon this time spent praying, conversing with God. This gift of God that was given to Jones was not something to be set aside, to be ignored. It was something that was to be embraced, to be enhanced, to be valued and cherished and encouraged. For Jones, prayer was important, and he wanted for it to be important to others in their walk of faith as well. He even said, “If I had only one gift to make to the Christian church, I would offer the gift of prayer.”</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The gift of prayer.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Do you use it?</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Really?</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Or is it just some kind of lip service that you offer before a meal? Has prayer been relegated to the “open in case of emergency” department?</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Is prayer a gift that you are still excited about? Have you exercised your gift and spent time using it, going over all of the ways that it works? Has it become a critical portion of your day? </p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Or is it sitting on a shelf somewhere, gathering dust?<br />
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Friend, we’ve been given a great gift. The gift of prayer. What a blessing it is that we have the chance to pray, to communicate with God. Too often, I have allowed this gift to go the way of so many physical blessings, setting it aside, not allowing it to reach its full potential in my life. It is time for this to change, for me to embrace prayer, to be excited once more, and to work on something that has eternal significance…my relationship with God. As I do, I hope that you do the same. I hope that you experience prayer as a gift, and I hope that you seek to use that gift in your lives. In so doing, let’s take some advice from E. Stanley Jones and begin with the example of the disciples.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><i>“Lord, teach us to pray.”</i></p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: right;"><i>~ Luke 11:1</i></p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Lord, teach us to pray! </p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Start right there, seeking Jesus, asking him to pray. </p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">If you received a kitchen appliance that could do 57 things, you would want to learn how to use it. You’ve received an even better gift, and you have the opportunity to learn how to use the gift from the one who made the gift possible in the first place. Why not ask? Why not start there?</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Lord, teach us to pray!</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">May that be our starting point (and our continuing point) as we engage in this remarkable gift that we have received from God.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: right;"> ~ Pastor Chris</p>Gethsemane & Middletown UM Charge Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17221740416450728007noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-64065575712590806.post-79522097091954942932021-04-21T11:03:00.002-07:002021-04-21T11:03:37.327-07:00Wooden Nickel (April 25, 2021)<p><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;">I can still picture the guy’s face.</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;">His scraggly beard.</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;">The unkempt hair.</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;">(Sounds a bit like me on a lot of occasions….scraggly beard, unkempt hair….no judgments on those things, just attributes that I remember.)</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;">I don’t remember his name, nor do I remember what he came to purchase from me, but he still made an impression, he still sticks in my mind, and I can picture our encounter to this day.</span></p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Typically, these types of things don’t make much difference, they don’t have any lasting effect. I’ve bought and sold plenty of items through online marketplaces such as Craigslist or FaceBook. I’ve met a large number of people in a variety of places to exchange some money for goods. Whether it was selling some toys that we no longer need or purchasing some “new to us” item that we cannot live without, I’ve completed so many transactions that I wouldn’t recognize most people if I ran into them again. This guy? He was different. This guy stood out among the pack.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Why? Why do I remember him, and why am I talking to you about him now? We already know that it wasn’t because he had some kind of catchy name that I would never forget. We can also rule out that it was due to the significance of the purchase. Both of those details are long forgotten. It also wasn’t because of the scraggly beard or because of the unkempt hair. Those types of things are relatively commonplace, a dime a dozen. Do you want to know what set him apart, what caused him to be memorable in a pool of forgettable interactions? </p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">His life motto.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">In no more than a five-minute interaction with this gentleman, I learned at least one of his life mottos, a rule that he lived by, a thing that was important to him.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Here it is: “It could always be worse.”</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Here we were, sometime during the pandemic, meeting outside to maintain appropriate social-distancing. A bunch of the world was paralyzed in fear, hoping that things would turn for the better. This gentleman? He had a clear message about what he believed: “It could always be worse.”</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">It could always be worse?</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">It could always be worse!</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Even as the world was seeming to spiral out of control, as restrictions were in place, and as things were looking pretty negative, here was a guy with a different outlook. It could always be worse.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">He’s not wrong, you know. Sometimes even when we think we’re at the bottom of something, that things couldn’t possibly be any worse than what they are at a given moment, the bottom drops out. What we thought was bad turns out to be “not so bad” compared to what came next. Typically, no matter where we are in our lives, there is always room for things to take a negative turn. He was right. It could always be worse.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">It could always be worse!</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Now, how did I know that this statement was a life-theme for this gentleman? After all, we had only spent a few minutes interacting. Still, in those few moments I learned that this was one of the key mottos for his life. How? He made sure that it was evident. He had the slogan written on his T-shirt. He had a bumper sticker on his car that read the same thing. There was a sticker on his windshield as well. I even learned that he was a musician, that he had written at least one song. You’ll never guess what it was called.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">“It could always be worse.”</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">In some ways, this sounds like a pretty depressing view on life. Super negative. Always worrying about when the “worse” that may possibly happen would actually happen, when the bottom might fall. But, this was not the full message. “It could always be worse” was not the entire theme. Instead, he added a graphic to accompany the saying. One that looked like this: 😀</p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;">The basic message?</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Smile. It could always be worse.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Look on the bright side. Appreciate what you have. Be thankful for the good in your life. Smile. It could always be worse. Here was a guy in the middle of a pandemic doing everything he could do to share a message that he found important. “Smile. It could always be worse.” Bumper stickers, window stickers, T-Shirts, songs, however he could express the idea, he was. And it went beyond those things as well. Though I can’t speak to his whole life, he was definitely smiling and cheerful during our interaction. Why? Because it could always be worse. He was bound and determined to look on the bright side of things, to have a positive outlook. He was so convinced of this philosophy, of this life motto that he shared it in any means that he could, even wooden nickels. That’s right. Wooden nickels.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Before the guy left as our transaction ended, he handed me a small stack of wooden nickels. On the one side, a smiley face. On the reverse, “It could always be worse.” </p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Smile. It could always be worse.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The other day (as I was cleaning off my tank…see last week’s devotional if you don’t get the reference), I found one of the wooden nickels. It made me smile as I remembered the gentleman who gave it to me and his passion for this message. It also made me wonder…what message am I sharing? What impression am I leaving? How am I impacting people with my life? Would people have any idea about my life mottos? My life principles? The foundation of my life? How long would it take in conversation for someone to gather something that is important to me? 5 minutes? 10? 15? 15,000? </p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Within 5 minutes, I knew something of importance to a gentleman that I will likely never see again in my life. He was able to make an impression by his commitment to a philosophy that he was passionate enough about to share with anyone who would listen. It made me wonder about myself. What impression am I making on those around me?</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">To be clear, I’m not saying that this gentleman had it all correct. There is an amount of hope and optimism found in his sentiment, but true hope can’t be based on the idea that things could always be worse than they are right now. True hope needs to be based on this promise:</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><i>“Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”</i></p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: right;"><i>~ Hebrews 13:5</i></p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">True hope, true peace, the ability to truly look into the future with optimism, with joy can not be based on a “it could be worse” idea. That’s too flimsy. It’s not a firm foundation. Instead, our lives need to be based on the awe-inspiring fact that Jesus is with us. Right now. Whatever moment we might find ourselves living at the present. If things get better, Jesus is there. If things get worse, Jesus is there. That is a much surer foundation to support us through any life situation.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I’m also not saying that this gentleman had it all correct in terms of his method either. If we want to impact people for that which is important in our life, if we want to share our life motto, share our foundation (which hopefully all of these things are Jesus, Jesus, Jesus), a T-shirt, bumper sticker, window decal, song-writing, wooden nickel campaign isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution. We can’t just slap a fish sticker on our bumper, a cross decal in our window, wear a “Need an ark? I Noah guy” T-shirt, have a cross hanging around our neck, sing aloud “Onward Christian Soldiers” as we put Christian tracts underneath every set of windshield wipers at Walmart. Those things aren’t necessarily bad, but they can’t be the whole picture. Impacting lives for Christ needs to encompass more than that.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">So, what am I saying? What is the point?</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I witnessed a man who was so passionate about his message that he was willing to do a whole bunch of things so that others would hear it.</p>
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What about us? What do we have to offer that is even better than a wooden nickel?<br />
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Our lives.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Our lives should be a constant testimony to the love of God within our hearts, whether or not we are wearing our red, ketchup colored shirt that says “Catch up with Jesus. Lettuce praise Him & relish Him. ‘Cuz He loves me from my head to-ma-toes.” We need to offer our lives much like Paul suggests in Romans.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i>I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual</i><span style="font-size: 10px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><i> </i></span><i>worship.</i></p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: right;"><i>~ Romans 12:1</i></p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">What are we willing to do so that others are aware of the presence of Jesus in our lives? How are we willing to share Jesus with others so that we make an impact?</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">We have been given something much more lasting than mere sentiment. We have been given a relationship with God and all of the blessings that fellowship through Christ brings. Forgiveness for our sins and our sinfulness. A place in the Kingdom of God. Freedom from our past. A hope for the future. We’ve been offered to be made clean, to be made right. God’s very presence is dwelling within us and producing love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, self-control. We’ve been offered the ability to persevere in life’s worst-case scenarios by the power of Christ within us. We have been offered all of these things and so much more. We should be passionate about Jesus, passionate enough to share. In our words, in our deeds, in our attitudes, in our conversations, in the way that we forgive, in the manner that we love, by the way we humble ourselves and lift others up. </p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">So, friend, I ask you. Are you passionate about Jesus? Has Jesus become the foundation for your life, your life motto? If not, pray. Ask God to make you passionate about Christ. If you are passionate about Jesus, are you sharing his love? Are you impacting people for the kingdom? Would others know that Jesus is important to you by how you live, how you speak, how you interact, how you love?</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">My prayer is that we are used by God to make an impact for God’s kingdom…even if God asks for us to pass out wooden nickels.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: right;"> ~ Pastor Chris</p>Gethsemane & Middletown UM Charge Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17221740416450728007noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-64065575712590806.post-13248510724082576092021-04-14T10:35:00.001-07:002021-04-14T10:35:33.898-07:00Catch All (April 18, 2021)<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Do you have a “catch all” in your home? You know…that place where you put stuff that you don’t really know where to put. You throw it in the catch all. It could be a junk drawer. It could be the top of a dresser. It could be a nice, decorative bin that secretly acts as a hidden location to keep miscellaneous stuff. A catch all. I have one. Ok. I probably have more than one. Though I am doing better than I have done in the past, it can still be difficult for me to get rid of things. Anyway, I often need to find a place to put things that have no pre-determined place, no known spot for me to keep them. So, I put them somewhere, I put them in or on a catch all. Ok, I put them on my desk. My desk serves as my catch all. It serves as that spot where things go until they can find their true, forever home. My desk serves as the landing zone, that place where you can go to find anything from a battery to a knife to a screwdriver to a file to an unpaid bill to a receipt to a watch that needs repaired to extra cords for the stereo to loose change to…you get the idea. My desk often functions as a catch all.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Now, before we move on, let me describe my desk just a bit more. This way you can have a better picture of what I’m talking about. You see, my desk isn’t just some small, ordinary work station. It isn’t some minimalist’s dream. My desk is a beast. It’s gigantic. It is what is known as a “tanker” desk, and there is a reason for it. The thing is a tank. It is the tank. Made of steel in the 50s, that thing was built to last, and it is huge. Two big file drawers on each side. Smaller drawers above them. Little drawers on top of that, and plenty of surface space. I mean plenty of surface space. Lots of room to do whatever work needs done…right there on the desk. The thing is literally a tank, and I love it. The problem? Too often my desk is so overcrowded with the stuff that needs “caught” that there’s very little room to do actual work. If I need to do something on my desktop computer? Well, I have to shove some things out of the way or delicately rest my wrists on top of the piles of stuff to access the keyboard. If I wanted to use the desk’s surface to compose a letter or draw a picture? Well, I’d better allot some extra time to clear some room. More often than I’d like to admit, the desk looks less like a desk and more like a big pile of papers and junk with what might be a desk lurking somewhere underneath. It is a catch all.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Recently, we’ve been doing some reorganizing, some rearranging, and some remodeling. One of the things that we are currently in the process of tackling is my home office. It’s getting moved downstairs, and our bedroom is going into the office’s current location. In the end, it will be a nice change. But do you know what I had to do to make that change happen? </p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">That’s right.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I had to move the desk.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">For some unknown reason the desk did not fit into the plans for the new master bedroom. I don’t really understand why this would be. After all, who wouldn’t want some giant, messy tank of a desk beside them when they go to sleep at night?</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">It had to go. Downstairs. </p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Now, if you’ve ever seen people move giant desks, there are a couple of things that you need to do beforehand to make it happen. One, you need to acquire help. There was no way that the tank was making it down the steps with me acting alone. (There was a way, but it involved lots of things breaking…including me.) Help is necessary. Two, you need to clear off the top. A computer monitor, printer, piles of paper and an unmentionable amount of dust among other things would not stay in place as the desk is transported downstairs. The top needed cleared off before the desk could be moved. Three, you need to remove some junk. The desk is heavy enough by itself. Add the weight of two, full file drawers, two medium drawers, also full, and three other small drawers. Not going to happen. The desk needed to be emptied of some junk, some serious weight needed to leave before its trip downstairs. </p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Yesterday, the desk moved.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Help was acquired. The top was cleared. Junk was removed. </p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Do you know what I found?</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I have kept a whole lot of stuff that I never needed to keep in the first place. My desk was holding a whole bunch of stuff that needed to find its forever home in the trash receptacle or in the box that is headed to the thrift store. Granted, there were some treasures mixed into the mess, some items that I’d like to keep, some things that are necessary to hang onto for a while longer. Still, by and large, most of the stuff that I had at one point thought was worthy of hanging onto really just needed to go. Most of the stuff that I had valued enough to hang onto for a period really just needed pitched. In reality, I needed to catch up on my catch all and do some releasing.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">This type of thing happens to all of us. At some time or another we need to catch up on our catch alls and we need to do some releasing.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">And I’m not just talking about a desk or a junk drawer.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I’m talking about all of the “stuff” that we carry around with us. All of the dust and the dirt, the batteries that have gone dead, the paperwork that is so old that it holds no value any more, the broken pen knife, the busted watches, the outdated tech, the spare cords that we might need if we ever buy a VCR again. We carry all of this around all of the time, but it looks a little different when it is inside of us. Unconfessed sin. Unforgiveness. Emotional wounds that we keep picking open and never let heal. Distrust. Judgements. Bitterness. Envy. Greed. Malice. We collect all kinds of things and hold onto them, thinking that they might one day be useful, thinking that we might one day need them. In reality? It is a bunch of junk, cluttering up the inside and outside of a desk, getting in the way of the desk’s true design, the desk’s true purpose. It is a bunch of weight that we need to let go if we want to get to the next step that God has for us in our lives. There are a lot of us who are walking around like a giant “catch all”, carrying with us everything that has ever been handed to us, forgetting that this is not our true design, our true purpose. Instead, we need to release. We need to release to God.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">But, how? How do we do this?</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I think some of the advice that I followed with moving the desk applies here as well.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><b>One, get help.</b></p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Above all else, seek God. Ask the Lord to help you release any unnecessary weight that you carry, any burden that you are bearing that is not yours to bear. Ask the Father to give you the Spirit to help. God will. Look at what Jesus teaches in Luke:</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i>“Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? </i><span style="font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><i> </i></span><i>If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”</i></p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: right;"><i>~ Luke 11:11-13</i></p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">God wants to give us help by giving us himself, his very Spirit. Ask! Ask for God to fill you, to renew you, to restore you, to remove those things within you that are weighing you down and are keeping you from being who God wants for you to be. Seek help from God!</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">As you seek help from God, remember that sometimes Jesus sends help in the form of another person.</p>
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Apart from a miracle, my desk needed some muscles to get down the steps. Help came in the form of a buddy who is young, willing, and in shape. Sometimes, to remove some of the things that plague us, we need God to provide help in the form of a person. Look at this advice from James:</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i>Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.</i></p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: right;"><i>~ James 5:16</i></p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Maybe you have been struggling with a particular sin of your past. Perhaps you know that you have been forgiven by God, you’ve confessed it to God, and you know that the blood of Jesus covers you. But, you just can’t seem to move past it. Perhaps, you need to talk with another person. Share with a trusted friend. Talk with your spouse. Seek the advice of a Godly, Christian therapist. Sometimes, God sends his help through other people.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><b>Two, clear off the top.</b></p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Deal with the external behaviors of your life. Don’t keep on sinning in the ways that you have struggled with in the past. If you have an issue with drunkenness, stop drinking (& get help). If you have an issue with gossiping, stop. If you have an issue with ______, quit that behavior. What good would it be for me to sweep all of the dust off of my desk, put it in a dustpan, and then pour it back on the desk once I got it downstairs? Quit doing the sinful things that you know that you should not be doing. Clear off the top, the sin, the external behaviors that you know are unhealthy for you and displeasing to God. Only keep that which is good, that which is true, that which is beneficial. My desk should have a printer, a keyboard, a monitor on it. Those things remain. It does not need dust, dirt, and worthless papers. Those things go. Paul says it this way in his letter to the Romans: </p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i>Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.</i></p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: right;"><i>~ Romans 12:1-2</i></p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Be a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. Worship God with all of your lives, living unto him, doing that which is holy, which is good. Quit doing all of those things that take you away from the Lord.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><b>Three, remove the excess weight.</b></p>
<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">This has already been mentioned earlier, but it is a good to remember. Get rid of the junk that you continue to carry internally. Let’s look at that verse again and what Paul said. “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” Beyond just external behaviors, get rid of the internal stuff, the weight that pulls you down, the sin that binds, the guilt that holds, the unforgiveness that cripples, the desires that steer you off track. Be transformed by the renewing of your mind, the renewing of your spirit, the renewing of your inward being. Be so transformed by the love of Jesus that you think like Jesus, you feel like Jesus, you listen like Jesus, you love like Jesus.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Friend, it’s time to catch up on being a catch all. No more can we live that way. Instead, we need to release. Release our lives into God’s hands. Release our brokenness, our failures. Our hurts, our pains. Our sufferings, our hardships. Release all of those things that keep us from being where we need to be. Do this by seeking help, by paying attention to the behaviors that you engage in each day, and by being transformed inwardly by the power of the Holy Spirit.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px; text-align: right;"> ~ Pastor Chris<span style="text-align: left;"> </span></p>Gethsemane & Middletown UM Charge Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17221740416450728007noreply@blogger.com