How to Make God Laugh, and Why You Don't Want to.

I was visiting my grandfather the other day in the nursing home.  He had collapsed a few weeks ago, and is undergoing rehab to see if they can get him back to being able to get around independently.  As I was there with grandma & grandpa and two of my kids working on a puzzle in the hallway, a man started making a scene.  My grandfather told me that he sometimes gets like that.  He started yelling about nothing in particular, about us being in his way at the table, about the disturbance we were, and he took off with his walker down the hall.  When a nurse saw him, she was a little alarmed because he is not supposed to be walking without an aide to help him, so she stood in front of him and told him it was time to go back to his room.  At this point, he says "Get out of my way, I'm going to run you over!"

Now, the nurse wasn't laughing, at least not on the outside, but she could have been.  I believe she could have lied down on the floor in front of this man and he still would have been unable to 'run over' her, or even step over her for that matter.

Psalm chapter 2 pictures people who would rage against God in much the same boat as that old man.  With little strength, and truly unable to comprehend the reality in front of them.  So how did the people in Psalm 2 get God to laugh?  They raged against God and God's people, and 'imagined a vain thing.'  We have all imagined a vain thing at one time or another.  If you haven't, you missed out on childhood, and many good lessons to be learned in early adulthood.  My favorite 'vain thing' I remember is actually my brother's.  He wanted to build a perpetual motion machine out of his Legos.  He worked on it, and worked on it, and had trouble figuring out why it wouldn't work.  There is a value in that type of thinking - in testing the 'walls', in business that is where innovation comes from.  A vain thing, though, is a thing that will not work out, a thing with no value, a thing that is nothing but wasted effort.  The vain thing these were doing is trying to overpower God.  This is what God laughs about.  About man's attempt to thwart His plans.

Now, about why you don't want to make God laugh this way: He's stronger than we are:

"Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, and against his anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us. He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision. Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure." 

- Psalm 2:1-5

So, if you want to make God laugh, just plot, plan, and scheme to overthrow Him.  But be ready for His response.  The upside?  It is spelled out in the rest of the chapter of how wisdom is to "Serve the Lord with fear," but I prefer the NT version in Romans 8:31 -

"What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?"

Who do we have to cause us worry? Certainly not those who rage against God - He will take care of those.  And not God, either.  We are to serve with fear, not with worry.  The difference being worry has no standing before God, fear respects God's power and authority, yet understands that Jesus' death on the cross gives us the opportunity to have our sins forgiven and be able to stand before God.

So, save your jokes for your friends, and let others make God laugh today.

What a Wonderful World It Would Be

Someone cuts me off in traffic!  I'm annoyed because I have to lift my foot off the gas pedal, but doubly annoyed because I would never do that to someone else.  Someone complains about me behind my back and I find out.  I am sure that behavior is uncalled for, people should deal with problems face to face, I tell my neighbor, or rant on Facebook.  In fact, Facebook seems to have opened the door wider to the type of passive-aggressive communication that is, for the most part, socially acceptable.  After all, a passive-aggressive rant aimed at someone but not communicated to them, and done 'in front' of hundred of our friends receives more likes than a picture of bacon, or a silly cat video (85% of Facebook shares).

What if we all lived life by the rules we held others to?  Notice, the question isn't "What if everyone else lived by our rules?", which is how we often interpret it, but what if I lived by the rules that I mentally impose on others?  It is easy to sit back and think how the world would be a better place if everyone lived by my rules.  I see it in my kids all the time!  One child will come and say "But mom/dad! they are doing x/y/z thing wrong!"  Or they won't come and we can hear them correcting a sibling in the other room. We call them in and simply explain that the house would work best if everyone followed the rules of house, yes.  Then we ask "Whose behavior can you fix?"

"Whose behavior can I fix?"  A simple question, really.  That is why I like to ask it of my children.  During moments of clarity, I hear God's Word asking me that same question.  I often ask my kids, but I need it, too.  I need to ask my children.  I have been blessed with the opportunity to train and discipline them.  It is not a wrong question for me to ask of them.  But what if in life, I always asked myself that question?

A car pulls out in front of me, cutting me off.  Whose behavior can I fix?  I can slow my car down so as not to cause stress or injury to anyone in my vehicle or the vehicle that cut me off.  "But they ought to fix their behavior!", my mind tells me.  Our minds always want to tell us that one strange thing.  That others ought to change their behavior and everything will be all right.  But what if I lived by the rules I hold others to?  I accidentally cut someone off, but obviously they had plenty of time to slow down and did not have to tailgate me for the next 428 miles, unlike me when they cut me off.

By now, you may have noticed that my question isn't original, it is just rephrased.

"And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise."

- Luke 6:31

What if I live by the same rules I held others to?  Now if we could find a kind way to encourage one another to do it.  I would guess it would involve applying the principle to ourselves, and encouraging others when they apply it to themselves.  And then?  What a wonderful world it would be.

The Storms of Life

Have you ever met someone that always seemed to be in the midst of a storm?  If they bought a house, the roof started leaking.  If they won a prize, they were struggling to find the money to pay taxes.  If they were given their dream vacation, it was a pain to have to pack and get ready to go.  Maybe, from time to time, we have all been that person.

On the other hand, have you ever met someone that always seemed like they were walking in sunshine?  They wrecked their car, but gratefully tell you that it could have been much more serious.  They end up in the hospital and are thankful for the extra rest.  They have to work through lunch and they are glad to be able to save some money.

Storms come in many shapes and sizes.  We have friends who are trying to sell a house where they used to live that they are upside down on the mortgage.  They are many states away and money is tight.  We have friends who have experienced medical emergencies in the past several weeks.  We have friends who have been up nights with crying babies.  We have friends with big decisions to make.  We have also found ourselves in those same storms.  At times, it seems like if we were to count the storms, they would overwhelm us.

I have had the first Psalm on my mind the past few weeks.  I notice that the psalmist describes two types of people.  The first is a blessed man, a man who delights in the Law of God and meditates in His Word.  He is described as a tree.  The second person is the ungodly.  We can assume they have no delight in God's Word, and they are described as chaff, plant matter that has little weight, and no strength against the wind.

The Psalm makes no promises as to what life will hold.  It makes no promises as to freedom from storms.  It only promises that the person who delights in the law of the Lord will be blessed.  The blessed man and the ungodly man are faced with the same weather.  The blessed man stands like a tree, and the ungodly is blown away.  The difference is in the strength of the man, where his strength comes from.

I don't know what storms this week will hold.  I don't know how strong the wind will blow.  But I do know that whatever comes this week, I want to be like a tree planted by the rivers of water.  I do not want to be like chaff.  How about you?  Would you like to be blessed, or blown away?  The choice is yours.  We only need to make His Word our delight, and we will be blessed.

Blessed is the man that walketh not 

in the counsel of the ungodly, 

nor standeth in the way of sinners, 

nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.

But his delight is in the law of the Lord; 

and in his law doth he meditate day and night.

And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers 

of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; 

his leaf also shall not wither; 

and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.

The ungodly are not so: 

but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away.

Therefore the ungodly shall not 

stand in the judgment, nor sinners 

in the congregation of the righteous.

For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous: 

but the way of the ungodly shall perish.

- Psalm 1

Running the race . . .

Today I had my first race since I hurt my knee a couple of months ago.  I had not run much in the last 4 weeks (a total of less than 1 mile), so I wasn't expecting much from the race today.  In fact, I was hoping not to embarrass myself too badly, and not hurt my knee too badly.  Not the highest of aspirations, I know.

So they called out "Go!"  And I went.  And I almost tripped over the walkers a few rows ahead of me.  And I went again.  I was judging speed by my Nike Speedband and my stop watch.  After about 1/2 a mile, I figured was running just under an 8 minute mile pace and breathed a sigh of relief that I would not be embarrassed as long as my knee held up.

Then I hit the 1 mile marker.  I looked at my Speedband, and it read .86 miles, just as they told me my time at the 1 mile mark was 6:56!  The knee was feeling good, and I had a second wind to run, so I kept going.  My legs wanted to quit because they hadn't worked like this for a while, but my breathing was calm and comfortable (at least considering I was running).  I hit the 2 mile marker at 14:10, meaning 7:14 for the second mile - I'm used to slowing down on the second mile, and this was less than normal, so I kept running.  I'm not sure what my time was at mile 3, but my finished time was 22:25, meaning around a 7:30 pace for the third mile and little bit.  Without thinking I could, I got a new personal best 5k time.

What is the point?  Well, I could have written off the race.  I could have walked when my legs got tired.  I could have given up and not even run today.  But I chose to run (Mostly because I didn't want to 'waste' the entry fee).

As a Christian, I have a race before me.  Sometimes, I don't feel like running.  Sometimes, I want to walk and take the easy way out.  But God wants me to run my race.  I don't have to worry about the results.  I don't have to worry about embarrassing myself.  I just have to run.  I hope we can each run our race that God has set before us in the coming week.  Won't you join me?

"Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,

Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God."

God's Way . . .

"For with God, nothing shall be impossible." - Luke 1:37

Sometimes, I understand this statement.  Other times, I think I may only be paying it lip service.  Have you ever looked at something and said, "Well, if God would do this, and this would change, I can see it working out."  We start figuring things out in how we can see it working, and we forget God's plan.

I recently heard of a young man who was studying in a Bible College.  His mother was fighting a battle with cancer and had just heard some bad news from her Doctors.  The young man had enough of the stress in his life and told everyone that he was dropping out of Bible College, and he was stepping away from his faith.  He was turning his back on God and could not understand how God could be considered love.

As I was processing the story, I 'knew' what needed to happen.  God needed to spare his mother.  Or maybe give her a chance to express her faith to her son and help him understand.  Or maybe . . . . .

A few days later his mother died.  In my small mind, this would have meant that all hope was lost.  He would never be in any church ever again.  Completely lost for the cause of Christ.  But not with God.  Through the mourning process for his mother, he came to understand God's love in more than a factual statement sort of way.  He experienced God's love as only a person who has lost a loved one can.  Rather than lose his faith, his faith was strengthened.  Rather than turn his back on God, he turned to God with more passion.

Life can get us down sometimes.  We can think that the only way out has passed us by.  That the only solution to our problem is completely out of our reach.  But the solution is never out of God's reach.  He never runs out of ways to make the thing work out.  Nothing is impossible for Him.  Nothing.

"Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, 

which he will shew to you to day: 

for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to day,

 ye shall see them again no more forever."

 - Exodus 14:13

That was the big deal that Israel faced.  A pile of well armed, well trained Egyptians.  No human way out.  But God is a God of even the impossible.

Keeping Things Clean . . .

We have hard water at our house.  I am not a big fan of water softener water, but hard water has its drawbacks.  I notice orange stains building up in the bottom of the bathroom sinks over the course of time.  It isn't that we don't clean the sinks, but normal spray and the strength of my children means that hard water stains build up over time.  So every once in a while, I will use Borax / washing soda or Comet to scrub away the stains.

This morning, when I went to look in the shower, I noticed the hard water stains had made some less than attractive patterns on the inside of the shower.  You could see where the water slowly drips down the tub surround, leaving darker streaks of stains.  You could see the extra buildup around the tub mat where water tends to dry up rather than go down the drain.  It was time for a cleaning.  So I rolled up my sleeves (metaphorically, since I was wearing a t-shirt) and scrubbed the stains away.  Each time I cleaned an area, it revealed another dirty area that was hard to notice with the really dirty area next to it.  In the end, I cleaned the entire tub and surround, and cleaned out the drain.

 

 Some things get dirty much faster than the build up of water stains.  I took my van Monday to cut firewood with my dad and my two oldest children.  There is a gas well road leading to the woods where we were cutting, so we headed up the road that had just been wet down thoroughly by the rain.  To get to the top, we ended up partially sideways a few times, and mud was flung all over the side and back of the van.  From clean to caked on in just a few short minutes.

So today, I got to thinking, which type of dirt is more dangerous?  At this point, I guess it would be helpful to draw the spiritual parallel that was building in my mind.  As believers, there are two ways that we can get 'dirty', or mired by sin.  We can fall in a big way and cake big, thick, heavy sin on ourselves in a matter of minutes through a wrong choice or through willful disobedience.  The response to this type of sin is often a quick repentance and cleansing from the sin.

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
                                         - I John 1:9

The other way we can get 'dirty' with sin is by allowing small sins to build over time.  We get so that we don't notice the sin, the slow manner at which the 'appearance' changes leads us to believe that we are still clean.  And then one day, while glancing in the mirror of God's Word, we realize how stained and disgusting our 'little' sins have led us to become.  The cleansing is the same, God is faithful.  But I've found in the physical world, and the spiritual world, it takes more effort to cleanse when the dirt has built up over time.  It is also more deceptive because we do not sense the build up of filth until it reaches our breaking point.

So, which is more dangerous?  I guess that depends on our cleaning schedule.  If I took a piece of bright white plastic into the tub surround every day to compare the surround to the clean plastic, the slow build up of filth would not be a problem, I would see it early on.  But if I neglect to compare the dirt to something clean, it can build up slowly and dangerously.  The truth is, they are both dangers to be wary of.  So what can we do? Just like comparing the tub surround to something clean and white each day would show me where work was needed, we need to compare our lives to a clean, white source.  God's Word is a mirror for us to show us our filthiness.  Jesus is the ultimate example, the pattern God is making us into.  To defend against all types of dirt means we need to compare ourselves daily to God's Word.  The written Word of the Bible, and the Word made flesh of God's Son.

As disgusted as we may get about dirt in our homes, we need to be more disgusted by that dirt called sin that slowly builds in our lives.  How is your cleaning schedule doing at keeping up?

God is good!

Life can get you down, but God can bring you up.  Subtitle for my blog, yet often we know the truth, but settle for less.  We let life get us down.  We refuse to let God bring us up.  So today, I just wanted to exercise my gratefulness remembering some of the ways God has blessed me.

I have a wonderful extended family.  We don't all see each other as much as we would like, but it is a joy to know each of them, and to know that each of them is there for whatever need.

I have a wonderful family that lives with me.  From my wife down to little Jonathan, God has blessed beyond measure.

I have a wonderful church family.  The blessing that they are to me and my family could fill a blog post in itself.  They love and care for us in a way that really shows the love of Christ they have for us.

He meets my needs.  I had clothes to wear, wood to heat the house, food to eat, utilities to make life more comfortable, a roof over my head, a vehicle to drive (and cart the whole family around), and several blessings that go far beyond need (working appliances, comfortable furniture, books to read, toys for kids and for adults . . .)

I am able to enjoy several hobbies.  I can run.  I am able to garden.  I can enjoy music through my guitars.  I can play games.  I can play around with wood working.  I have tools to work on my van.  I have plenty of food to cook / bake.

I have more money than I need.  (Please notice that if your definition of need is different than mine, you may get an unrealistic view of my finances from this statement)

I have hope.  Not the kind of hope that is a pie in the sky dream, but real, literal hope.  I have a security that my sins have been forgiven.  I have a security of being "In Christ," I have been crucified with him and raised with him to a new life.  I have the hope of heaven, Jesus has gone to prepare a place for me.  I have the assurance that the difficulties of this life cannot compare with the greatness of the joy that is to come.

"For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us."

- Romans 8:18