Month: February 2018

Valentine’s Day! Why do we celebrate love on February 14th? According to Wikipedia the Christian tradition of the day comes vaguely from St. Valentine of Rome. Martyrology (the study of martyrs) says that he was imprisoned for performing marriages for Roman soldiers who were not allowed to marry. Also ministering to Christians who were being persecuted under the Roman Empire. While in prison he is said to have cured the judge’s daughter who sentenced him to death by restoring her sight. Upon his execution he wrote her a letter signing it “Your Valentine”.

The romanticizing of the day seems to go back to the age of chivalry when courtly love flourished. Famous 14th century author, Geoffrey Chaucer, seemed to promote the day in his writings. We can blame the modern-day commercialization on 18th century Brits who expressed love for one another by presenting flowers, candy and greeting cards called ‘Valentines’ But leave it to the Americans to take it to the heights we see today. If you gave your loved one flowers or candy, you are contributing to the best commercial day for both industries. It almost seems that love cannot be expressed without the acuraments of this day. But is that true?

Don’t get me wrong. I am not a curmudgeon who is bah humbugging either this day or the symbols of love we use to express it to one another. My wife loves a good bouquet of flowers as much as anyone. My only problem is that we actually need a day to encapsulate it. Because if our love is based on God’s, imagine what would happen if He did the same!

What if God’s love was doled out as we do with human love. Maybe I am stretching things a bit but bear with me. Since I have accepted Jesus as my Savior my ideas of love have changed drastically. As an atheist, love was like all other emotions, I could give it or take it as I saw fit. My expression of it came from whatever I felt at any particular moment. But one day I read this Bible verse, “The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.” (Zephaniah 3:17) The idea of God delighting in me who had hated Him. Even more that He who I had cursed could rejoice over me with singing, God singing a love song to this sinner. The image has never left me and changed the way I viewed love.

I began to see God’s love is eternal it has no beginning and it has no end, “…because God is love.” (1 John 4:8b) And the thing is, that image of love God has for me a sinner, was enhanced in how far he was willing to go to show it to me, “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16) That kind of love, once you accept it is like Valentine’s Day every day. Not doled out in candygrams or flowers but in the blood of His son and our Savior, Jesus Christ! And it cannot help but change how you will share such great love with others.

So once again, I have absolutely nothing against a day that is dedicated to love. In fact, I am all for it, if it reminds us of what love should look like every day. If we accept the love of God, known as grace, in our life today and pass it on or share it with the love of your life and anyone else you come in contact with. Then what a difference this Valentine’s day would make!

Tonight, RuthAnn and I will swap cards. When we do I will remember how blessed I am that God allowed me to share my life with this Godly woman. But to tell you the truth, it won’t be much different than any other night. I feel that way every day. You see, I know our love is based on His and that make every day a “God’s Love” day! May your day be that too!

Blessings John
2/14/18

RuthAnn and I saw the musical “Amazing Grace” yesterday at the Opera House in Macon. I don’t know exactly what I was expecting but it superseded anything I had imagined. Wonderfully staged, powerful cast and incredible music. But what really made it stand out was the theme.

The musical is based on the life of John Newton, writer of the hymn Amazing Grace. If you are a historian you would not recognize much of the known facts reflecting his life, except for one point, John Newton lived a majority of his young life in rebellion against God and humanity too. As a sea-faring man involved in England’s slave trade, he lived in a world where human lives were reduced to monetary value. Violence, degradation and sometimes death was the lot of any ‘slave’ captured. And like many who worked to promote it, Newton became lost in the immorality of it. The musical showed this wonderfully, if not factually. Newton’s life without God was self-centered and careless of even those who loved him. Adrift he was not availed to the grace which was being offered to him.

Of course, for me the theme was one of my own life. No, I have not been involved in human trafficking, but I have been involved in the enslavement of people who purchased drugs that I promoted and led them to. In the musical Newton has a moment of ‘faith’. Tied to the mast during a hurricane, God’s mercy and love opens his heart, he surrenders in a dramatic way and according to this plot all things in his life are changed from that moment. In his factual history, it did not happen that way. Newton is converted while still ‘slaving’ but does not denounce its terrors for several years, even after becoming an Anglican minister. It was the fact that I knew this while watching the performance that allowed me to enjoy it even more. Let me explain.

I had a lot of baggage attached to me when I accepted Jesus as my Savior. Years of alcohol and drug abuse had corrupted me to the core. In 2012 when I went forward in commitment at the Gladstone, Oregon camp meeting, that baggage was still in tow. I knew I wanted to believe the promise, “But God demonstrates his love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8) In fact I hung on to that verse for dear life, claiming its promise over and over.

Over the next 5 years and even to this very day, I dropped one bag after another as the Holy Spirit filled me. Some were easier than others. My foul language left me almost immediately but the anger which caused me to spew those words from my mouth stayed with me for years. It was only after the death of my wife, Dianne, that prayer, mine, and others removed it from my life. In 2010 I had quit partying and drinking but the nasty rock and roll music full of sex and violence stayed around a lot longer. I guess my point is, being saved is not just a moment as portrayed in movies, plays and even musicals. For most of us it is a day to day even moment to moment struggle, as the Holy Spirit peels away the layers of filth. And for me knowing that was true for John Newton blessed me even more as I watched this inspiring production.

Today as I sit and write this, I am assured that, the Amazing Grace that we sung as the performance closed is available to me and to you. The Apostle Paul says it like this, “But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weakness, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.” (2 Corinthians 12:9) God’s amazing grace!

Newton did become one of England’s most powerful abolitionists writing the pamphlet, “Thoughts Upon the Slave Trade” in 1788. He allied himself with William Wilberforce, the Parliamentary abolitionist and lived to see the “Slave Trade Act 1807” which abolished slavery in the United Kingdom. His song Amazing Grace became an anthem of that movement and lives on today to cheer the heart of every converted sinner. It helps each of us know it is only by His grace we are saved. Here is the first verse of that hymn:

Amazing Grace, How sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me
I once was lost, but now am found
T’was blind but now I see.

To that I say Amen. May today you experience God’s Grace!
Blessings John
2/12/18

The other day I saw an old man shopping. He was in one of those electric carts supplied by most stores. With him was a young woman. As they ventured down the different aisles, he would point at something and she would retrieve it and place it in the basket on the front of his cart. But every now and again and argument would take place. It seemed there was something he would want that she knew he should not have. This fascinated me, because most of the time when it happened he would seem to insist the item was needed but the girl stayed firm. It was a true duel of wills. Him out of assumed need and her out of concern for his wellbeing. What I thought was so cool about this was she never seemed to lose her patience.

I truly admire that trait. Patience is something I find myself in short supply of. It is a fruit of the Holy Spirit I have had to pray about daily. It is the same when I read the Bible. I marvel at those who exemplify its quality more than any other. There are many who come to mind, but I do not think anyone can top the Old Testament patriarch Moses in the patience department except Jesus himself.

Can you imagine spending 40 years wandering around a desert with people you really like and get along with. It would get old really quick. Now think about wandering around that same desert with, oh, about a half a million people who blamed you for every discomfort or problem. Well, that was Moses life, yet he seemed to endure it with remarkable patience and even love for this stiff-necked people. How does something like that happen? I think the answer is not who Moses was but who he became through faith in God.

Some of you know the story of Moses. Born to a Hebrew woman during a time when they were slaves in the land of Egypt. Moses should have died at birth. Pharaoh had degreed that all male Hebrew children should be killed as soon as they were born. Saved by mid-wives, he was placed in a basket and floated in the Nile River. There the daughter of Pharaoh found him. She adopted him. Do you see the hand of God in Moses life?

And even though he was raised as an Egyptian who could have had power and position the book of Hebrews tells us: “By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. He chose to be mistreated along with the people rather than enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin.”(Hebrew 11:24-25) Choice was important in who he became.

Now comes something in his story that would seem to be the worst choice, “And it came to pass that in those days, when Moses was grown that he went out unto his brethren and looked on their burden, he spied and Egyptian smiting a Hebrew, one of his brethren. And he looked this way and that way, and when he saw that there was no man, he slew the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. (Exodus 2:11-12) He had not learned patience yet, for sure, and soon he would pay.

The crime became known and Moses once a prince now became a fugitive. How often do I commit impulsive acts and pay lasting consequences? Moses did. He fled Egypt and his people into the land of Midian and there for forty years sojourned with peaceful shepherds. Marrying and settling down. It was here he gained the patience he would need for the next part of his life. Writer Ellen White puts it this way, “Shut in by the bulwarks of the mountains Moses was alone with God. Everywhere the Creator’s name was written. Moses seemed to stand in His presence and to be over-shadowed by His power. Here his pride and sufficiency were swept away. Moses became patient, reverent, and humble, “very meek, above all men which were upon the face of the earth.” (Numbers 12:3) (Patriarchs and Prophets, Chapter 22) Moses was no longer the prideful prince who believed he could do God’s work by his own power.  Moses surrendered his life to the will of God. Over the next forty years that patience would be tried endlessly but he shared the burden with his God. Moses the man God called ‘His friend’ chose surrender over pride. That is patience.

I was in line behind the old man and young woman as they checked out their groceries. Every now and again, I would hear him grumble under his breath and she would just smile patiently. I smiled with her, admiring, and knowing how often I fall short when tested. It is my prayer today to remember who is in control of my life and surrender pride in return for God’s own patience just like Moses. How about you?

Blessings John
2/7/18

I am sure glad that not every aspect of my life falls under the scrutiny of the press. I can only imagine what things would have been written if my entire life had been made public. I had a small sampling of it back during my drug dealing years when I was swept up in a sting operation being arrested along with about twenty others. For the next two weeks the story was somewhere on the front page of the local newspaper. I certainly was not mentioned by name in the articles but people who knew me were aware that I was part of the scandal, it had an enormous effect on my life.

When I was released on bail, people I had been dealing to and with wanted nothing to do with me. My house, once a party place, now rarely had visitors. My job was also affected. At the time of my arrest I was a foreman who was trusted and even though most of the company knew I was a drug dealer, now it was outed, things changed. The superintendent asked me to do drug testing. That was a laugh, he was one of my customers. I understood. I also was given a written warning about drugs onsite and if I was caught with them I would be out, fired without recourse. All of this and in the end, I was not convicted, the cops had bigger fish to fry.

Still the experience of being under public scrutiny never left me. Sure, within a short period of time things went back to ‘normal’ but the circle I traveled in never treated me the same. There was no forgiveness for getting caught, for being ‘known’.

I still live with those memories. But I no longer care about the stigma being an arrested drug dealer. I now care more about the victims of my crime and the lasting effects of the poison I sold them. It is they I now seek forgiveness from and for. I am blessed that we have a God who does forgive. I am also blessed that we have a book that tells us how His forgiveness works, the Bible.

The amazing thing about God’s Word is all its characters are under scrutiny and none of their sins are hidden. But unlike the media which is based on bias and opinion this book does not expose to exploit but to show the wonders of God’s mercy and love. And to me, the one character that epitomizes this is my favorite Old Testament guy, David.

Talk about having your life laid out for all to see, the story of David leaves nothing hidden. Every act of his heroics as a giant killer and awesome warrior along with his grievous sins of murder and mayhem are exposed. Yet through it all the theme of his story is not of his glory or his defeat but of his relationship with God. And it is in this that we can find what allows David to live up to his name, which in Hebrew means beloved.

I think it is in the story of David’s obsession with Bathsheba that this is shown to an amazing extent. Most of us know the story. David is now king and as kings did in those days, David should have been on the battlefield with his troops. But he is at home when he spots a girl on the rooftop near him. Bathsheba and she is beautiful, he wants her. She is brought to him and soon is pregnant. Alone this is not good, but she is also married to one of his best fighting men, Uriah. David’s first solution was to try to get Uriah to sleep with his wife but when that doesn’t work, he orders his commander to place Uriah in a deadly position in battle where he is sure to be killed. And so it goes. From that point David’s life is changed.

He tries to coverup his sin but that ain’t happening. God sends one of his prophets, Nathan to expose him and here we begin to see once again why David is different, he confesses. How many of us today once caught in our sins will lie deepening our separation from God? But David now sees he has fractured the most important relationship in his life and writes out a confession, Psalm 51:

“Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions.” (Psalm 51:1)

David confesses his sin and throws himself on the mercy of the court. But unlike any earthly courtroom this Judge already knows David’s guilt but also sees his repentant heart and now not only mercy, but forgiveness is assured:

“Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.” (Psalm 51:7)

And unlike any other forgiveness David or we will ever know, this forgiveness is true because we are not just forgiven but renewed in God’s grace, a miracle:

“Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirt in me. (Psalm 51:10)

David’s relationship with God IS renewed but like with all sin there were repercussions. The sin he committed would echo through the lives of his sons and himself for the remainder of his life and beyond. His sin had consequences as do yours and mine. But David did not live in regret, he moved forward trusting in his God. And even though his life was not sinless God claimed him to be “a man after My own heart” (Acts 13:22) This man shown to be a murder, liar, was also repentant, humble, and loving. In the end God sees his heart and not his sin. A miracle certainly. And it is why I am glad David’s life was exposed for sinners like me to see.

When my sins were exposed because of that drug sting, I lied and was ready to do anything to stay out of prison. I felt no forgiveness because I sought it from those who could not give it. Many years later I read David’s story and I was encouraged to repeat his words from Psalm 51. I too wanted a new heart. I now moved forward also not living in regret but trusting my changed heart and life can be a hope to others. I want someday to stand before the Judge with David and hear the word, ‘beloved’.

Blessings John
2/6/18