A blessed Saturday to all,
It is impossible to turn on the news or open up our news browser and not be flooded by stories of the protests across our country regarding the death of a suspect through what video shows is a disregard of proper procedure. The result of that event has sparked protests across our country. These protests communicate an anger that is difficult for some to fully understand because their experience with LEO (if any at all) has always been in compliance with standard procedure. Others find an avenue to vent frustration at unpleasant encounters with the police for a justified or unjustified reasons.  

In my life before Christ, I experienced both.  There were times I broke the law and the officers who detained me were professional and I never felt like my civil rights were violated. There were also some encounters with law enforcement personal who used their office and my violation of the law as justification for excessive force, racial bigoty, and an avenue to vent their own frustrations.  The reason I share this is convey that I understand frustration at injustice and people using their job as an excuse for unlawful behavior.

I also look at the riots and ask "how many of these people are actually outraged and how many just see an excuse for unlawful behavior?"  I also thought of what our society would be like if we demonstrated similar passion when we considered sinful behavior by others and by ourselves. 

Paul's words in Romans bring this question to mind. In Romans 2:22 he writes [You who say that one must not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples?] and in Romans 12:9 [Let love be genuine. "Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good.]  I am sure some who are throwing rocks at LEOs have a resume full of lawless actions under their belts.  Is it right to show frustration at sin by committing sin?  Is it possible to show our hatred of what is evil by not holding fast to what is good? Do we who are outraged by the behavior of the police officer who caused George Floyd's death or the unlawful behavior of rioters feel equal outrage at our own sin? 

Let's remember the danger of throwing rocks when we live in glass houses.
Have a blessed Saturday
vic

A blessed Friday to all
Letter of James addresses several themes that are easily applicable to daily life.  He provides exhortation on faith, testimony, works, and consistency. In the opening chapter of his letter, he writes in 1:5-8 [If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously  to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind, For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord, he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.]  While the immediate context teaches us about double-mindedness, which is understood as a doubting or being unstable in their faith. 

When it comes to instability of our faith and our testimony, there are few Christians who will say "oh, yes that's me".  However, I believe that instability, like ungodly behavior, sometimes is camouflaged  by other factors.  For instance, I don't wish to help someone in need and I will say to myself, "it's a scam" or "he (or she) will use it for drugs". I realize that we must be good stewards and practice discernment but my point is that it is easy to talk ourselves into not doing the right thing.  Another way that we can fall prey to double-minded behavior is in how we apply different rules to things that are not that different.  In case that last sentence did not make sense, let me try to clarify it with some perspectives on our current situation.

Folks will have no problem standing in line, wearing masks (or not), and maintain social distancing while they go to Walmart, Costco, Safeway, and various businesses that have remained open but when it comes to the thought of attending worship service, will declare, "It's not safe!"  What some will say, 'I will go to work, but going to church has to be put off because there is a danger of infection."  I have a friend whose church will open up next week (different state). The church Facebook page posted "When ____resumes worship services, we will be at least as safe as the Walmart you all go to"

The purpose of using these examples is not to make a political stand but to show that inconsistency and double-minded behavior is an easier trap to step into than we may think. Let us strive to demonstrate steadfast behavior in what we say and in what we do.
Have a blessed Friday
​Vic

A blessed Thursday to all
Yesterday I met with a fellow church member who had not been over at our home in a while. We sat on the back porch and before the meeting, he looked at our hill an pointed out the many changes that had taken place since we first moved in.  He said that unlike the many trees that had been there before, the trees and plants that replaced them demonstrated an intentionality to how they were laid out.  It was gratifying to hear that our work was bearing fruit.  One of our sons had said earlier that we should post some before and after pictures.  

As I sat and thought of the before and after, and about the comments regarding intentional design, my mind went to my spiritual growth over the years.  The work in our back yard is the result of many hours of work by Pam and I but we are not the only ones who have contributed.  We had brothers from the church come over and help put in a French drain; enlarge the retaining wall, and pour a large concrete pad area.  We had a sister in Christ spend many hours with us on the hill putting in plants and showing us how to put in a sprinkler system. Others have been a phone call away when I needed advise on something we were trying to do.  So the transformation on the hill is the result of intentionality, hard work, and the help of others. It is the same for our growth as Disciples of Christ.. 

In Galatians 6:2, Paul writes [Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the Law of Christ.] Eight verses later he states, [So then, as we have the opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.]  My growth in Christ has come about through the study of Scripture, communion with Him in prayer, lessons learned through service, and through the support of brothers and sisters in Christ. They carried the burdens of my tears when I was hurting; carried me when I felt weakened by challenges; pushed me over hurdles of my own making, and encouraged me when I felt emotionally drained. My growth as a child of God did not happen without personal effort and it did not happen on my own.

Just like our back yard area, the progress is the result of the contribution of others.  Each day, we need to seek to build each other up. The transformation of our lives from before and after cannot happen without the help of others. The transformation from before and after of others cannot happen without us.  

Have a blessed day
Vic

​

Good day to all on this Wednesday
The image above is one of many that are designed to show us how our perspectives impact what we see. In the case above, the place were the persons are standing cause them to see a different number.  As I scan news, social media, and internet reports, the same pattern emerges in relation to how different people are seeing what is going on now.

Some see the current restrictions as a violation of civil liberties and all they can see is the bootheel of a tyrant. Others see ignoring said restrictions as motivated by selfishness and placing the rights of one above the safety of many.  Some look at what has been happening and lament all that has occurred. Others look at what has happened and ask "have we learned anything?"  Some post humor to deal with our current reality; others covey their anger and frustration at every opportunity. Some see storm clouds; others see the beauty in the rain. 

What do we see? Many years ago, an article was published in which the author wrote of his frustration and anger with God when looking at a starving child in a refugee camp. He wrote, "As I watched that child, I screamed 'God why don't you do something?' Then I heard God's reply, 'I have, I sent you'"  We often look around us and are so horrified, frustrated, or enamored with what we see that we forget to ask what that may have to do with us.  Are we witnessing what we see only to report facts. Are we supposed to do something about what we see?  If we are supposed to do something, what are we supposed to be doing?

I have found it easier to turn to purpose statements in the Bible. What I mean by purpose statements is instructions about what we are supposed to be doing.  I think of texts such as Acts 1:8 and 2Corinthians 5:17-20. And I think of Paul's words in 2Corinthians 5:15 [and He died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for Him who for their sake died and was raised.]  All this is to say that those of us who proclaim Jesus as Lord and savior are not to use our energies to communicate our frustrations, our anger, or our agendas. We are to dedicate our energy to proclaim Him.  Imagine if every Christian simply kept proclaiming Jesus instead of the various other things they are using their energies on. How could the world not hear "Jesus" then instead of all the noise that is flooding it.

Food for thought.
Vic  

A blessed Tuesday to all
In February of 2010, Chile suffered an earthquake. measured at 8,2-8.8. The damage was extensive. Pam and I were on furlough but I was able to travel to Chile within two weeks with some funds from the International relief fund to provide assistance to some churches we worked with. Within two weeks, people were working at getting back to normal but there was a lot of work to be done.  I was amazed at something I witnessed at a local grocery store. When things were normal, the store had a deli section that also had prepared lunches that people could purchase and eat at home or at work. It was a big seller with office workers.  However, after the earthquake, the store was doing well to have some items for sale while it had many bare shelves. I had trouble believing my ears when I heard a young man  berating a store employee because there were no prepared lunches to purchase.  His complaint was that prepared lunches were a normal item at the store and they were providing poor service by discontinuing them. The employee was trying to explain they were doing well just having the doors open with some items for sale.  I thought that the angry man either did not understand the magnitude the earthquake had on Chilean infrastructure or he wanted to return to normal so badly that it caused him to be unreasonable. 

Getting back to how things were is an understandable desire for anyone who has dealt with upheaval in their lives. We are dealing with that at this point. However, I wonder if in our desire to return to what we call normal, we are living with blinders similar to the ones the young man in the store I just mentioned wore.

Whenever our boys would go through a set back, a challenge, or suffer some consequence for a bad decision, we would ask "what have we learned?" Our philosophy was, and remains, that even the worst things can teach us something and that lesson can serve us for the future. Because of this perspective, we often were awed by the thick necked behavior of people we read of in the Old Testament and in the Book of Revelation that seemed incapable of learning from what they had either gone through or going through at the moment.  I would read and say to myself, "how could they miss what God was communicating?".  As I look around and read posts about returning to normal, laments of how the changes in the last two months have affected our lives, differing views on how things should have been handled. I could not help but ask myself "what have we learned?"  

Is it possible that God is saying something to us through the current pandemic and we are so focused on returning to what we perceive as "normal" that we completely missed HIs message?

Food for thought.
Have a blessed Tuesday thinking and learning
Vic