OUT OF HERE, THIS I KNOW

OUT OF HERE, THIS I KNOW

How we ever got here, I just do not know?!

But, one thing I know – We, all, must NOW go!

Up, into the light, climb fast as we can;

Not one leave behind, woman, child nor man.

Sparkling, it lured us; it looked like a well;

Now we know better; the gate straight to hell?!

Many around us, all raising a toast,

“It’s the water of life!” the liars proposed!

Take hold of my hand, with all of your might.

Up, out of the cold; up, out of the night,

Back from where we fell, so very long ago.

It was better there; this I surely know.

But, “we like it here,” darkened souls may say?!

No! Hear me my friend; we really can’t stay.

Soon, in frozen sleep, ourselves we will find;

Overcome and drugged, drowsy all our minds!

Already it grows, above and around!

“Where is the path out?”  “It now can’t be found!”

Soon, we’ll be taken, no more to be seen.

Vanished, all, forever; ensnared by the fiend.

I barely can breathe!  The air is so foul!

Listen! I can hear, down deeper, a howl!

There, in deep darkness, red eyes I can see.

Hungry, they all look, at you and at me!

“Please, daddy, do not slip,” my girl cried to me.

“Swiftly, let’s now climb, a chance there may be?”

For them I give all; God give us success!

“Save us all I pray!” All together, Yes!

Above us I can hear, voices calling to me,

Loved ones gone before, “climb out and get free!”

With smiles on their faces, and, tears in their eyes,

“This is the right way! Climb up for the skies!”

Let us not linger. There’s danger below.

I must now save her!  Yes, this I but know!

Get up and be gone, from the worlds below.

Get out of here, now!  To the light we go!

O, Sweet  Jesus!

SECOND CHANCE SANDALS

SECOND CHANCE SANDALS

                “Ben…why do you have to keep so much clutter?!  …just look at those old, worn-out sandals!   … throw them away; you cannot keep all this stuff!”

                (patiently, sighing) “…my dear Hannah, I am sorry to upset your sense of order, but you have no idea how special these sandals are to me.  I have had them since I was a small child, and I intend for our little Joseph to get them.  It seems like only yesterday when I asked my grandfather why he kept them around.  I remember his eyes welling up with water and he began to tell me the saga of these sandals…”

                “… are you for real?!  Your family heirloom is a worn-out pair of sandals?  What else did you inherit in the estate, an old, moth-eaten kippah?!  We have to stop hoarding!”

                “dear wife, granddad, as a child, asked his dad where he got those old, dry-rotting sandals, and he was told of an old man, dying in his tent, thirty-five years into “the Wilderness”.  As he struggled for his last few breaths, they called to him his family.  Then, he looked at his oldest son, Tobias, and handed him these sandals.  He whispered into his ear, ‘I wore these sandals, thirty-five years ago when I was one of the “Twelve” sent in to check out our new home.  We failed the LORD.  We had seen so much, but we focused on the giants, not God!  He has purged and pruned us.  You do better!  Trust Him.  God has preserved these sandals for decades now.  When you get there in a few years, He said, forty years, you put on these sandals and march in to take the land, faithfully and fearlessly!”

                “I had no idea … this is awesome …”

                “Oh, there’s more.  Papa Toby strapped them on when they marched around Jericho those seven days!  But, as they conquered the land, he put them up, and preserved them.  To me, they say, ‘the LORD preserves us!’  Hannah, are you not listening to this?  Where are you going with those shoes?  Do not toss them out!”

                “…dear husband, we will NEVER throw away these sandals;  I am putting them up on the mantel for display and protection and veneration.  The LORD does indeed protect and preserve his people!”

THE CURSE

THE CURSE

                “… you will be like God…” is the cursed lie the Accuser whispered to our mother.  Such brilliance!  Such ignorance.  He knew his own armor chink, his own weakness, his own achillean heel.  And, he went after the new pair with the same appeal.  He who would be like God, fell and dragged down with himself all the sons and daughters of God, through their mother, by appealing to her vanity.  Pride in the heart of Lucifer engendered the heavenly rebellion that resulted in the expulsion and condemnation of the demon horde.  But, they turned their rage upon the sons of Adam and daughters of Eve.  He knew the strength of his weakness; and, he used it to curse us all.

                Today I was told to clean up, on straight time, the left-overs of “the man” – the skilled welder – who attempted to “save the day” by patching the leaking caustic line on the side of the kraft digester, under pressure?!  Unsafe?  Heroic? Profitable (OT pay)?!  And, now I am dragging down from the catwalk equipment, materials, chemical suits … all of this left laying scattered around on OT!  I began to mutter to myself, “I have a job… I AM paid well … I CAN do this … I CANNOT do that … I probably WOULD not do that job …”  So, in humility and gratitude, I kept on, “working as unto the Lord” and even tried to reach a 5S standard of clean-up, of somebody else’s mess!  And, I hate even cleaning up my OWN mess.

                The Snake was hissing in my ear.  He wanted me to swell up and drag my feet.  But, I swallowed my pride, and lifted my head to hear the Spirit’s whisper of blessing.  The angels came and sang to my heart!  It was not going to happen, today!  “… get behind me, Satan …” was my smiling retort, this time.  Sometimes I puff up at the old adder.  And, then he smiles.

Pride is so subtle.  When you think you have achieved humility, you probably just lost it?!  Beauty can be a curse.  Evil men, possessed by the Evil One, often make slaves out the beauties.  When I compliment my granddaughter on her beautiful head of hair, my daughter is quick to remind us that it is inner beauty that matters.  Why do they call it a “vanity mirror”?!  But, the source of self-adulation can be skill, brains, even spirituality?!  One can be proud that he is spiritually “weird”; and, the Lord may deem it necessary to bless one with a “thorn in the flesh”.  We are encouraged to “think of others as better than ourselves.”

2 Corinthians 12:7 (RSV)  And to keep me from being too elated by the abundance of revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan, to harass me, to keep me from being too elated.

Philippians 2:3 (GNT)  Don't do anything from selfish ambition or from a cheap desire to boast, but be humble toward one another, always considering others better than yourselves.

Romans 12:16 (MSG)  Get along with each other; don't be stuck-up. Make friends with nobodies; don't be the great somebody.

1 Corinthians 4:7 (KJV)  For who maketh thee to differ from another? and what hast thou that thou didst not receive ? now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory , as if thou hadst not received it?

1 Corinthians 4:7 (MSG)  For who do you know that really knows you, knows your heart? And even if they did, is there anything they would discover in you that you could take credit for? Isn't everything you have and everything you are sheer gifts from God? So what's the point of all this comparing and competing?

Running Naked in the Garden (or, you will never find Him like that)

YOU WILL NEVER FIND HIM LIKE THAT

You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.  (Jeremiah 29:13 NIV)  If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.  (2 Chronicles 7:14 NIV)

                I sat at the dinner table and enjoyed the conversation.  Beside me was a USAF jet mechanic who worked on F16’s.  He was a first-time visitor at church and my daughter invited him over to eat with her family and us.  We talked of his home, California, and his family, Chinese, first-generation immigrants.  He was just glad to escape downtown, urban Los Angeles.  He joined the Air Force and had traveled to Japan, Africa, … and was now stationed in Montgomery.  He had come to church, based on a Google-map search, and wanted to make new friends.

                As we enjoyed the Thai food (what a coincidence?!) that Sarah had planned for dinner, our guest began to reminisce about how his grandmother set a very similar table with lettuce, sauces, vegetables, ground pork …  It really was a very good meal!  The conversation turned to church and what Matt was looking for in a church.  He said that he wanted Bible study, to answer questions.  The teens had directed the church service that morning and talked of how God has the answers to all our questions, even if we might not know the answers, yet.  Wow!

                The conversation turned to questions about the nature of God, the problem of pain and suffering, and other “surface issues”?  My son-in-law quipped that he was glad that I was there to be the “answer man”!  We went to the book of Job, and I pointed out our inadequacies to know all the answers.  Matt was surprisingly familiar with the apologetic/theodicy nature of the book?!  Then he quipped that God seemed “bi-polar” when you look at Him in the NT and OT …  (I was thinking about Marcion) and I responded with an academic answer.

                Then, I went a little deeper with a question.  Matt had mentioned his parents being Buddhists, and I asked him what attracted him to Christianity, with his family’s spiritual background.  Very quickly he retorted that he did not like all the rules in Buddhism that made no sense to him.  He wanted to be free to party with his friends and play.  The conversation soon took a detour into banality boulevard.  But, not before I added – Job put his hand over his mouth and just shut up; and,  “… the secret things belong to God…” (Deut.29:29) is one of the favorite verses of old Rupert. 

                We soon finished dinner, and my wife and I packed up to return home.   We kissed the grandkids good-bye, and hugged our daughter and snl, David.  As we drove west, Melanie asked me what was troubling me.  I was thinking about Matt.  I was perplexed about his answers and motives.  I was concerned that I had failed to connect with him.  Later that night, as I lay sleepless, it began to dawn on me that the problem was not head, but heart.  He was not looking for Jesus; he was just running from Buddha.  As long as we make God an argument, an academic conclusion, a synthesis of propositions, … we will never find Him.  We are not looking for Him; we are hiding from Him, wanting to run naked through the garden.

"Then they will call to me but I will not answer; they will look for me but will not find me.Proverbs 1:28

I love those who love me, and those who seek me find me.  Proverbs 8:17

For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.  Matthew 16:25

"I am unworthy--how can I reply to you? I put my hand over my mouth.  Job 40:4