daily java

Daily Java:  

Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:13-14)

The guilt trip section of the year is upon us, the time of New Year’s Resolutions. This is the time of year we promise ourselves and sometimes others to do things throughout the year that we know we will probably fail at.

You know how it is. We promise to make ourselves better this year. By year’s end we will be speaking Urdu fluently, we will lose 174 pounds, we will be able to bench press 350 pounds, we will read the entire set of Great Books of the Western World, we will get out doctorate, we will bring 100 people to Jesus, we will read the Bible through 12 times, we will be instrumental in ushering in an era of world peace and will run for president in 2012.

Little stuff like that.

And when we make our New Year’s Resolutions so massively, is it any wonder that by January 4th, we have already broken most of them.

So what do we do? Ignore the whole season of making ourselves better?

Micah, the Old Testament prophet, had the right idea. In Micah 6:8, he wrote: He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.

That seems pretty simple. To act like you are supposed to act, to love like you are supposed to love, and to live like you are supposed to live. Nothing to it, really. Right?

Of course, as long as the Spirit resides within you, it is possible. It isn’t something, though, that you are going to sit down and decide to do on your own. On your own, you sin and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). With God, however, all things are possible (Mark 9:23).

Most of our resolutions are well-meaning, and we can really see ourselves keeping them and becoming better. But the only ones that matter, the only ones that will last, are the ones that glorify God.

Forget the past. Last year is gone – and I, for one, am glad – and there is nothing you can do to reclaim it or make it different. Life is fast and short, and the end comes quickly. So do something useful and make yourself like God wants: just, loving mercy and humble.

Those are real resolutions.

You will never need Urdu anyway, so go ahead and cross that one off.
 

my new year's resolutions

Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:12-14)

My New Year’s Resolutions

At the risk of looking foolish, here is what I hope to accomplish this next  year.

1. I plan to lose 50 pounds. This will be accomplished several ways:
    First I intend to go back on the low carb diet, the only diet that has ever worked for me.
    Second I am going to begin exercising. I bought some exercise videos at Goodwill the other day and am going to use them.
    Third, I am going to begin walking again.

2. I intend to fast once a week at least. Probably the day will be Monday.

3. I plan to begin praying at length daily. I am going to open myself daily to the will of God and listen for a period of time daily for his voice.

4. I intend to start dressing better. I have gotten rather slob-like in my appearance and need to change. Of course, this is not a dress up church. However, I am going to start dressing better.

5. I plan to read the Bible completely through this year.

6. I plan to begin a book that I have been talking about for years.

7. I am going to make my preaching stronger, both in the word and in commitment.


8. I plan to keep in touch more strongly with my family.

By the grace of God and with his help, these things will be accomplished.

romans 12: a sacrifice of serving love

Here is the lesson plan for tonight’s Bible class. If it can be of use to you, feel free to use it. If you have questions about it, ask me. I believe everything I write.

If you do, email me and tell me so I can be glad what I did can be of use. Also email me if you would like and I will send you the entire series to date. I still haven’t written 13-16, but will send that too when it is done.

If you steal it and call it yours, the angels will weep.

Romans 12: A Sacrifice of Serving Love

The apostle Paul has spent the first part of the book of Romans (chapters one through eight) talking about the relationship of sin in our lives and his plan for taking care of that sin problem. Jesus, he says, is the answer. He ends that section by saying that we are free from unnecessary law when we are in his grace and that there is nothing that can or will keep God from loving us.

The second section (chapters nine through eleven) tells how it is that God will save his people: adoption. No longer will anyone be physically born into the kingdom of God. Now all who come to God through Jesus will come by choice, rather than by birth. He used the tree of Israel and the grafting in of branches as an illustration.

The third section, and the last (chapters twelve through sixteen) will be practical. The first section said every person has sinned, the second section showed how God was going to bring us into the kingdom, and the upcoming third section will tell us what we are to do about it, and how we are to live in this relationship. It is a user’s manual of the Christian life.

To live in Jesus and to be able to participate in his grace, you must allow yourself to be fully immersed in him, almost like being sacrificed (Hebrews 12:29 our God is a consuming fire). You have to allow God to change you, change your heart and your mind, so that you can change your life. As he said before in the book, you cannot change yourself by your own will. Romans 7 said that the harder you try, the worse it gets. It is only God through the grace of Jesus Christ that can really change you.

QUESTIONS:

1. The sacrifice of our lives to God is not really all that strange. What are some other sacrifices we make in our lives?

2. How do you test and approve God’s will? Is it really up to us to test God?

3. Do you think we can be proud of our gifts? How can you tell the difference between pride and confidence? Is there a difference?

4. Does stepping forward and doing what God gave you the ability to do make you proud? What about when other people think so?

5. Do you think that each church has the gifts it needs to grow and become stronger in Jesus?

6. What about people who do not seem to have anything they do well? Is one gift any better than any other? How can encouragement or serving or showing mercy be a gift?

7. V9 Love must be sincere. How can you insincerely love someone else?

8. V9 Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Does this mean you can’t like things the world likes. (ie movies, music, politics)

9. How do you be devoted to one another in love and honor one another above yourselves? What exactly do you do to do that? Does that mean that you give in to them all the time?

10. What is practicing hospitality? Is it just feeding people and having them in your home?

11. V17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Does that really work? Have you ever seen it work? Can you do it? Can you really bless those who persecute you without feeling taken advantage of?

12. V21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. How does this work? Will it work in our culture today?

daily java

Daily Java:

For our God is a consuming fire. (Hebrews 12:29)

For several years now, I have read a lot in the papers and on the internet about how people want you to leave your religion at home when you vote, or go to school, or work, or anything else.

They say that there is no place for strong religious convictions in the public sphere. All they do, they say, is muddle up things.

And besides, it is said, when you bring in your religious convictions, you run the risk of running counter to someone else’s convictions. Yours and theirs may not be the same and no one has the right to force what they believe on another. We do not have the right to tell someone else that they are wrong simply because we have read it in some book or think it ourselves. Everybody has the right to live their lives as they feel like and no one can tell them they are wrong.

It is said.

The problem is that verses like Hebrews 12:29 come up. Our God is a consuming fire.

Throw something into the fire and what happens? It is burned up.

When we are thrown into God, so to speak, we are burned up. As the apostle Paul said in Galatians 2:20 said, I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

When we are in Jesus and through him in God, we are no longer who we were. We have been burned up in his presence, we have been crucified with Jesus and we have spiritually died. We are new creatures.

We can no more leave our Christianity at home that we can leave our sexuality or anything else that defines us physically.

Wherever I go, I am a man. I am male. Everything I look at is seen through that prism. I cannot see things any differently because that is who I am. I am also an American. Even though I lived in a foreign country for a year and a half, I still think as an American. I am a white guy. I think as one. Having never been black or Asian or anything else, I cannot imagine it. I am a tall and big man. I think as one. I cannot think as a short person because I am not and have not been for 50 years.

And I am a Christian, a child of God, a follower of Jesus Christ, immersed in his grace and participating in his love. I can no more leave that behind than I could my sex, nationality, race or height. They are all part of me.

And besides, the only one that will last is the Christianity. One day I will be changed to whatever I will be in heaven, and all of the physical differentiations will be gone. But, as 1 Corinthians 13 says, my love for him and his love for me will still be there.

When I vote, or go to school, or work, or anywhere – I am a Christ-follower. I have been crucified with him, I have been burned up in him. I am no longer just me, but me in him.

I still retain my abilities and my identity as a white American tall and big man. But I am one who is in Jesus and saved by his grace. Not only that but, as Paul also said, we are Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us (2 Corinthians 5:20).

How in the world can Jesus make any appeal through us if we leave him at home?

Not me. I love God too much. I will sing of his fire and let it consume me.

daily java

Daily Java:  

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. (Matthew 11:28)

The problem with church sometimes is that when you come, you find out all the stuff you are supposed to do. by the time the church loads you down with all of the “commands” of God, you almost cannot turn around without sinning.

But that is a problem. Jesus never came to tell us stuff to do. He never came to give us more commands from God. He never came to add to our burden.

Anytime we expect people to do what we think God wants them to do, we add to their burden, not ease it.

In the Old Testament, God had a lot of commands. It was a law that was designed to show God’s people that they could not keep a law, no matter how hard they tried. It was a law that pointed to something better: Jesus.

In the new system, God writes his law on our hearts, not on paper or rock or other people’s motives or anything else.  In fact, Jesus said, in Matthew 22, that the new law of God was one of love. In other words, it was a law that changed your heart, not dictated your behavior.

I remember when I was younger and I read the injunction of Jesus in Matthew 5:28. He said, anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

What that meant to me at the time was not only was the law of God not to commit adultery, but it meant that if I even thought about it, I was dead. Thoughtcrime, as George Orwell put it, had been introduced into the kingdom. The new law of God was even worse than the old one.

You could get by without committing adultery under the old law, but you could think about it. In the new law, you were dead if you even thought about it.

There was no way anyone could keep such a law.

But that is not what Jesus was saying. He was saying that just because you don’t actually do something doesn’t mean you are fine if your heart was so full of lust and anger and all. It is not the commission or lack of commission of sins, it is the heart that matters.

That is why King David in the Old Testament was called a man after God’s own heart. He did wrong and Israel suffered because of it. But he was repentant. Even though he had sinned, his heart was that of a worshiper of God.

In other words, God forgives if your heart is right, even if you do something stupid. But he cannot forgive if your heart is full of hatred and anger and lust. It isn’t because he doesn’t want to. It is that he cannot reach through all that stuff to get to your heart.

When the new covenant came along, God sent Jesus. He came to give us rest. It is rest in the knowledge of the love of God and the knowledge that his grace will cover our inadequacies. It is the real rest of knowing God and his love.

God loves us even when we fail. And that is true rest.

daily java

Daily Java:

Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying: “Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you may now dismiss your servant in peace. For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all nations: a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of your people Israel.” (Luke 2:28-32).

The birth of Jesus impacted so many, even at the time. Even though his was an ordinary birth to ordinary parents, yet still things happened.

Angels sang to announce his birth, wise men traveled following a star from a long way away, and two people, devoted to God, saw his promise to them fulfilled.

Simeon was righteous and devout, Luke 2 says. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was on him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts.

Here was a man who had been waiting for some time. The Bible doesn’t say how long, but that day, he was moved by the Spirit to go to the temple courts.

That was because that day, Mary and Joseph brought Jesus in for his official presentation to God. Children were brought in on the eighth day of life to be circumcised and to be dedicated to God. As good Jews, they did this and met Simeon.

What it must have been like for Mary and Joseph. Every once in a while, someone would grab their baby and begin praising God for him and for his mission in the life of the world.

Today was no exception. Simeon met them and told them how he had waited for the salvation of God. And here it was, in this child.

He blessed Jesus, but then he gave the caveat. This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too. (Luke 2:34-35).

Mary probably didn’t understand this, but you know she hated hearing it. It just didn’t sound pleasant.

But before she had time to think about it much, another person comes up. Anna, a prophetess, Luke says, who was very old; she had lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, then was a widow until she was eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying.

She came to Mary and Joseph at the same moment Simeon finished, and gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem.

With this reeling in their heads, Mary and Joseph left and went home to Nazareth. The gospel account leaves us there, just telling us that the child grew and became strong; he was filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was on him.
But what it must have been like. Everybody thinks that their child is special and will do something great. Rarely does anyone look at a baby and figure it will never amount to anything.

Jesus, on the other hand, was surely different. His was a real mission. He had been born for a reason. This little baby was, as Isaiah said, the Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince or Peace. On his shoulders the judgment of the world would rest.

No matter how long you wait for something, if God said it would be, it will be.

What a day that was for Mary and Joseph. It was probably the last for a while, since you don’t hear of Jesus until he was twelve.

But she never forgot them, that is for sure.

christmas has happened

So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. (Luke 2:16-19)

Christmas has happened. The immediate celebration are over. The boxes and wrapping paper will be thrown away, leftover turkey sandwiches are on the horizon.

Tomorrow you go into WalMart and the decorations are gone – as if by magic. They are still up in the mall, but the Christmas music is probably over. Next week or so, Valentine’s Day stuff will go up and Christmas, for this year, will be a distant memory.

But Christmas never really stops. It is not a day. It is a lifestyle. Sure, the Christmas celebration is just a month or so, but the fact that the Christ, the Anointed of God, the Messiah has come into this world will never stop.

Even after Jesus comes again, it will still be felt. After all, we will be in heaven face to face with our God because of it.

To Mary, it sure wasn’t a one time event. As someone once said, it is a lot easier having a baby then keeping a baby. The birth was only the start.

Like she did, we remember him all our lives. When we accept him and take him into our hearts, that means he becomes a part of our lives. He is as much, if not more, a part of our lives than our kids or our wives or even our parents.

He is a lot more important to our lives than our jobs because one day that job will stop and he will not.

He and the love and grace he brings will endure.

Take down the tree in a while, unhang all the lights and stuff, eat all the fruitcake and pie and turkey and candy, box everything up and store it in the attic or basement for next year. But remember, all that consists of is trappings, superfluity. It is just stuff.

But Jesus lasts all year round and will endure forever. His love will never cease.

After all, he gave up heaven to become a little baby. Just to show us that he loved us and to participate in the great adventure – living for God.

I hope y’all had a Merry Christmas. Happy New Year!

daily java

Daily Java:

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. (Isaiah 9:6)

Christmas is here. Santa Claus has come and Ella and I have opened our presents. I am the proud owner of a Lava Lamp. I love those. This one sits on my shelf and will be kept lit all the time. They are a pain to get going, especially as we keep our house in the low 60’s.

Ella has her perfume and some black jeans she had been wanting. One thing I got her that I really like is a red necklace, big red stones on a pewter background. I liked it the minute I saw but was afraid I wouldn’t get it. But I did.

We have always had Christmas on Christmas morning. Santa always comes for us. We both get up in the middle of the night and arrange the presents on a chair or somewhere. The larger presents go on the chair and the smaller ones go into the stocking. We used to only put small things in the stockings, but we don’t now.

It is always fun to do this. Ella grew up in a Christmas Eve unwrapping family and I grew up in a Santa arriving, Christmas Day unwrapping family. She liked my paradigm better so that is what we do.

In her case, once they unwrapped all the presents on Christmas Eve, there was nothing really left for Christmas Day. This way, she is able to share in the excitement of a guy who woke up each Christmas morning with presents under the tree. It was always, always magical.

And it still is. When we come in and see the presents, it is easy to forget that we put them there ourselves.

Some people never grow up.

But the presents remind us of the season. We do not give gifts simply because we like each other. We give them because of the Gift that God gave us: his Son.

The shepherds gave him the gift of their praise. The wise men gave him expensive gifts. We give him pathetic little broken gifts which he turns into something great: our hearts.

And he makes us a gift worthy of the King.

Today is the one day of the year that even the most hardened atheist has trouble missing. In this season, even little spoiled, hedonistic brat pop stars sing his praises. Even old country singers who have soaked themselves in liquor and sex manage to croak out praise to him.

It is strange how that works. As hard as they work, the world cannot stop Christmas. It is still not Giftmas (a term I despise), it is Christmas.

And he is real and my King because of the gift on Christmas.

daily java

Daily Java:

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”
When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.” So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told. (Luke 2:16-20)

She was holding the baby. It had been an ordeal for her and she was tired. Joseph was sitting next to her, stroking her hair. What a man, to love her anyway and to accept this child as he had done.

It was nice and quiet. She could hear the soft murmur of the other people in the stables. There had been a lot of folks in the same situation she and Joseph were in, unable to find lodging. It seemed to her that everybody had come from here. When Caesar Augustus told them to come to their birth city to be registered in the census, she just figured they would get some place to stay. All of her family had moved to Nazareth, so there weren’t any relatives to stay with.

But when she got here, there were a lot of people. The people they had traveled with had the same problem, too. Fortunately, there was man who owned a large stable. He saw the opportunity to make some money, so he took it and rented it to them.

One good thing about it, though. It was warm and comfortable and the manger made a great bed for Jesus.

So there they sat, just being with each other.

There was some noise outside. She looked to see what it was. Joseph got up and went to find out. A whole bunch of really smelly shepherds came in the door and came towards her. Joseph’s first instinct was to jump in front of her to protect her, but she realized that they meant them no harm. They were looking for the baby. Is that him, they asked?

The shepherds told them of how angels had appeared and sang to them and told them to go find the baby. When the angels came, it was so beautiful and they were scared to death. They thought they were about to die.

They didn’t know why they had come to them, but one thing was for sure, they were not about to disobey a bunch of angels.

She held the baby out for them to look at. Joseph stood close to make sure they didn’t grab it or something. But she knew they were okay.

They didn’t stay long. They left singing and praising God.

When the shepherds had left, the other people in the stable asked her why they had come. But she had no real answer for them.

But she never forgot. Never. Neither did Joseph. Every once in a while, they would talk about it.

When Jesus got older, she told him about it. He was in his 20’s and had already figured out that God had some job for him. he wasn’t sure what it was, but he felt it.

What a night, though.

forty days later

Look, there on the mountains  the feet of one who brings good news, who proclaims peace!  (Nahum 1:15)

Cut in to a picture of a pair of feet. They are dusty and cracked and very brown. One of the toenails is growing out from being hit by something – a rock or root. The sandals are ordinary and have been worn to the point that they will need to be replaced before long.

They are standing on a piece of rocky ground. There are stunted plants around, some prickly pear. A scorpion scuttles by not far from the right foot.

Bring the picture out a bit more and there are the legs visible from about mid calf down. The clothes are dirty. It has been a long time since the one wearing them has had them laundered. They are also ordinary, nothing fancy. Just utilitarian sandals and clothing.

The hands are visible now. Like the feet, they too are cracked and dirty, and very brown from the sun.

The face comes into view. Unkempt, tangled hair, cracked lips, burned face, emaciated features, yet there is a serenity in his eyes that is at odds with the rest of him.

That serenity was not there forty days ago. Forty days ago, he had been baptized by John the Baptizer, they called him. Forty days ago, the Spirit of God came to rest on his shoulder like a dove. The Lamb of God John had called him, who came to take away the sins of the world.

Forty days ago, the full knowledge of who he was flooded over him.

And it scared him to death. Or at least he thought he might die from the enormity of it all.

Forty days ago, he had stumbled into the wilderness in a daze. He had gone home, gotten some water and took off. Mary kept calling after him, asking what was wrong. But he couldn’t talk.

Forty days ago, he was afraid. Now he knew what he was going to do. Now he had reached the acceptance of his mission.

Forty days later, he emerged from the desert a different man. Forty days ago, he was a carpenter who had felt the hand and call of God on his life from a very early age. He had always known there was something special he was to do. He figured that maybe he was going to be a prophet or something like that, but he was thirty years old and God had still not called him out.

Now he knew. He was the Son of God, the Messiah.

He figured he had sat around long enough now. He had better get busy. First, though, he would talk to his mother. He had some questions.

daily java

Daily Java:

The mountains quake before him and the hills melt away. The earth trembles at his presence, the world and all who live in it.  (Nahum 1:5)

The earth sat silent, but you could feel the impending earthquake. Thunder in the distance, low lightning, the animals all sat looking toward the east waiting like animals do before some major natural happening.

In the distance you could hear the confused sounding whispering. What is happening, they ask. What goes on?

And then – nothing. A baby is born. The mother cries out in pain, the baby is born, the midwife whacks him on the rear and he cries. She wraps him in some cloth and gives him to his mother who begins to nurse him.

That’s it? The animals all lie down again, the thunder stops. But the confused whispering keeps on.

From heaven, the angels have just been instructed to sing the praises of the Son of the Most High to a bunch of shepherds. God has commissioned a great star to hang over the place where he lay.

And that’s it. The angels are wondering what the deal is. Why is it that the Son of the Most High received no accolades greater than just a song to some shepherds. It seemed to the angels that when the Word became manifest that there would be a lot more stuff.

On the other side, the devil is happy. He is looking forward to the challenge. There has never been a single person who lived who did not fall down in some way.

This one will be no different. God really messed up here. He sent his Son into my territory, the dark one thinks. And he will be mine, just like everyone else has ever been.

On one side, the angels are confused at the little pomp given the Royal Birth. On the other, the devil is looking forward to tearing down the kingdom of God through the baby.

But things will not turn out like either of them thought.

There was no pomp because God sent his Son to live among us, not over us. He was a man like any other, as Hebrews 4 says. He is, as the angel told Mary, Emmanuel – God Among Us.

But, on the other hand, he is not like any other in one way. He is the Son of the Most High. Although he is human and subject to all of the devil’s devices, he is still the Son of God.

No one has ever been sinless. But Jesus will be. People have always died because of the sin that was brought into the world. But Jesus, sinless as he is, will die anyway. And not only will he die, he will conquer death, giving us the ability to do the same.

The devil is sure going to be surprised. And the earth will know that there is a Savior born.

three men came up the street

After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem. … They went on their way, and the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh.(Matthew 2:1, 9-11)

Mary was cooking supper. They were in a small apartment they had come to not very many days after Jesus was born. They were grateful for the use of the manger, but, of course, it was not good for the long run. Joseph got a job with a local carpenter and they rented this small apartment, just enough room for the three of them.

She was making a lamb stew, something that Joseph loved. He especially like the way she seasoned it, with the little onions and herbs she gathered outside of town. She would walk around with Jesus in a bag on one hip and the herbs and onions in a bag on the other, then walk back and cook for him.

One thing for sure, she was one fine woman. He was so glad they were married.

She turned to stir the pot, and heard a commotion. It sounded like bells and animals.  It also seemed like everybody on the street was outside looking at what was happening.

At the end of the street she saw what looked like a caravan of oriental people, maybe from Persia or something. They had camels and donkeys and just about everything else you could imagine.

There were also a lot of servants with them. Drivers, guards, soldiers – a whole platoon of people. Whoever the main people were, they were rich.

Three men came up the street. Behind them were several servants bringing boxes.

These men were the most fancily dressed people she had ever seen. Even Herod and his court didn’t dress this fancy.

They were looking around like they were trying to find someone. They asked someone a question and the person pointed toward Mary. She hadn’t been here long enough to know their names, but they knew she had just had the baby.

She was suddenly frightened. She didn’t know why. But she didn’t know what they wanted.

They came toward her, stopped, looked up – it as just getting dark and there was a star overhead, larger than any she had ever seen – then looked at her. They looked at the baby, at Jesus, and did something she had never seen. They knelt and bowed before her. The servants came up with three beautiful boxes.

The first was a gold-lined box which contained some of the best smelling myrrh she had ever seen. The second was a polished walnut box. As she took it, she noticed that it had a winged lion on the bottom. It contained frankincense. The third was a cedar box which contained a single large gold bar.

There was more money here than she could ever imagine. And it was for her. Or for the baby.

They said that they had come from far away following the star overhead to find the child.

And they had. They worshipped him, turned and left.

The neighbors were bursting with curiosity but were afraid to ask. She sat and looked at the things they had brought, and then at Jesus, who didn’t care a bit.

How in the world would she explain this to Joseph?

our tradition of stockings

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! (Luke 11:13)

Christmas is in sight. It is close and I have just about finished my shopping. Nothing more now than stocking stuffers.

Ella and I have Santa come each year. She was raised in a family that de-emphasized Santa Claus and opened their presents all on Christmas Eve. I came from a family that opened a present or two on Christmas Eve but got presents under the tree “from Santa” on Christmas morning.

I like my tradition better. So does she. It is a lot more fun.

So what we do is have a present or two under the tree for Christmas Eve and then go to bed. Sometime during the night, “Santa” comes and when we wake up in the morning, there are presents and stockings filled with little goodies.

Well, one year it was a gold necklace, but for the most part, the stockings are for candy and stuff.

The first year we were married, it was funny. She had no idea of really what to do with the stocking. So on Christmas morning, her stocking was stuffed, stuff falling out of the top, candy, fruit, presents all around it. My stocking was kind of pathetic. She had even taken some of the candy canes off her stocking and put them on mine so it would not be so forlorn looking.

She just had never had a stocking. She figured it out by next year, though.

We were married for six years before we had our first child. The Christmas before she conceived, we decided that we would not have any more child-less Christmases. They were boring and were over so quickly.

Oh, the stocking set up for our ten month old daughter the first year. She was the first grand child on both sides and was lavished with stuff for the first few years until finally there were more grandkids.

But we always had stockings for them even after they grew up. And we even had one for their husbands and wives.

And now we have had one for our grandson, Brody, since he was born three years ago.

One year we had a homeless man living with us, named Joel. We even had a stocking for him that year. It blew him away. He mentioned at one point that it was the first stocking he remembered having in a couple of decades. When I pointed it out to him, he just sat and looked at it for a while.

Christmas morning, there was stuff in it.  Not a lot, but there was a fleece cap and muffler and gloves, a large package of Mounds candy (his favorite since he didn’t have any dental uppers) and a couple of other things. We even gave him a fleece lined flannel shirt for Christmas.

When he died (he had AIDS), I gave them away to others. But for his last Christmas, he had a stocking.

The funny thing is, though, with our kids all living a distance away, we no longer have them with us. But we still have the stockings.

I wonder what Santa will put in mine Christmas morning?

daily java

Daily Java:  

With what shall I come before the LORD and bow down before the exalted God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of olive oil? Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?

He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. (Micah 6:8)

In John 6:28-29, the religious leaders came to Jesus to get his input on a continuing question they liked to talk about: what do we do to work the words of God? His answer: this is the word of God that you believe in him.

God did not send Jesus to tell us stuff to do. God sent Jesus to change our hearts. We do not serve him by doing stuff. We do stuff because we serve him. There is a difference.

People get so caught up in what they are supposed to do that they forget the God they are doing it for. The things they do become more important that the One for whom they do it.

They sing, and pray and listen to the sermon with their eyes open most of the time, they write checks and teach classes. They write commentaries and bring people to God and offer their bodies as sacrifices. They become frantic to do more, when what God really wants is their hearts. Without that change of heart, all of the other is ultimately worthless.

What more can I do, asks the frantic Israel. More burnt offerings? More olive oil offered? Shall I kill my children for you?

No, God replies. I do not want your stuff, he says. I want you.

What does he want of us? He wants our hearts. He wants us to act like him, to be just and merciful and be humble about it all.

The tax collector and the Pharisee in Luke 18 were a good example of this. The Pharisee, a member of the conservative ruling elite of the Jews was proud of himself. I fast twice a week and give a tithe of everything I get.

The tax collector, a member of a class everybody hated because they worked on commission for an occupation force, only said be merciful tome, a sinner. Jesus’ comment: which one was righteous? The one who gave God his heart.

Is the stuff important? Yes. But it is only good if you are the kind of person God wants you to be. Atheists give help to people on occasion, yet it does not make them holy. It merely makes the somewhat generous.

God wants you. And when you give him yourself, you also give him  your stuff. But your stuff, you sacrifices, your singing, your money – all this doesn’t matter any unless you give him your heart and change your way of dealing with both him and others.

The stuff you do is not necessarily wasted, of course. It does good things for those you give it to. It is just that without the change inside, the stuff outside will make no difference.

what faith joseph had to accept this

But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, ‘Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins. (Matthew 1:20-21).

What faith Joseph had to accept this. His wife assured him that she had been faithful, but all of the evidence pointed another direction. By rights, he could accuse her and have her put to death at the most, exiled at the least.

But he loved her. He had loved her for a long time, since she was little and he a little older. After he had gotten old enough to marry, he knew he wanted to marry Mary. He didn’t have to wait all that long, he was only a few years older than she, but she was the one for him.

He had built a house for her, with real furniture that she could entertain on. A real bed with a mattress. He had laid the flooring himself. It would be better than dirt for his wife. There was no reason to be a good carpenter if you couldn’t do a lot of stuff for your wife. He was so excited to show it all to her when she returned.

Then she was pregnant. She had gone to see her cousin Elizabeth who, amazingly enough, was pregnant herself. She was old. At least 60. To a young man of 20 that was ancient. And besides, she was surely too old to have a child.

She was gone for six months. When she came back, her obvious pregnant state was a blow to Joseph. Wait a minute. I have been faithful to you. I loved you. And you betrayed me. That was what he thought.

He decided that he would just put her away quietly. No big thing, no publicity of the wounded betrothed. Just dissolve the arrangement. He still loved her and could not bear to see her hurt in any way.

He lay in bed for a long time. It was almost like a dream when the angel came to him and told him that he was to keep her, that it was the doing of the Holy Spirit, and even what to name the child.

That certainly put a different spin on things. She had never quite explained to him why she was pregnant. In fact, she hadn’t justified herself to anyone in the village. That almost made them madder than the fact that she had been so obviously unfaithful.

But if this were true. If this were not just a dream, and he didn’t think so, then he needed to take care of her.

He would. And he would love and raise the child as his own. He promised. Tomorrow he would go to Mary and tell her what had happened. They would get married in a quiet ceremony and then leave with the group for Bethlehem for the census.

He sure did hate for her to go on that long a trip in her condition. However, he figured that if she really was pregnant by the Holy Spirit, nothing would happen to her.

Besides, he loved her.

And he was asleep.

she had kept the box for years

While Jesus was in Bethany in the home of a man known as Simon the Leper, a woman came to him with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, which she poured on his head as he was reclining at the table. (Matthew 22:6-7)

Years after the wise men left, long after the money from the gold, frankincense and myrrh had been spent, Mary still had the walnut box the frankincense came in. She didn’t know why she kept it or what possible use it was to her. It still bore the fragrance of the frankincense

She had kept the box for years. It was beautiful and had been a part of such a marvelous period of her life. Never again had anything be as amazing as that first part of Jesus’ life anyway.

But finally, she was clearing out some of the stuff in her house, and decided to sell some things. The box was one. The merchant gave her a good price, since it was of such exceptional quality. It had, after all, come from a very wealthy man who had come with two other men from a long ways away to see the baby Jesus. They said they had followed a star.

The merchant was amazed the most by the craftsman’s stamp on the bottom. It had the picture of a winged lion. It was, all in all, a very good box.

It was just that Mary had no real use for it and besides, Jesus was getting older – almost 30 now – and she just decided to get rid of it.

Jesus left home and began his ministry. He preached and taught and healed and loved all who came to him. And most who came to him loved him back. He was just so unique. Never had anyone brought God down to a level they could understand before. The regular teachers loved to use big words and strange illustrations. Jesus just spoke with authority.

His words touched one young woman.

She was a prostitute and a fairly successful one at that. She knew she didn’t have many more years left so she was careful, but because she was so beautiful and skilled at various ways of love-making, she was in demand. And because she was so in demand, her prices were high.

With her money she bought some special perfume that was sealed in an alabaster jar. To get it out, you had to break the jar. She figured one day when she was old, she would begin to use it. She even bought a special box to keep it in, one she had found at a store in Jerusalem, down a small street. The merchant assured her that is was of great quality.

She heard Jesus speak and was amazed at the love he showed for people like her. She was even near him at one point. She was waiting to offer herself to him, but something stopped her. She knew he looked at her with approval, but it wasn’t the approval with which most men looked at her. It was different.

It was genuine. And it touched her more deeply than any man had ever touched her. It reminded her of the love her father had for her before he died and she was sold into slavery. It was a love she was searching for and had looked for in every man’s face that came to her house.

Of course, all she saw there was lust. Here she saw love. Real, raw, genuine love.

And she felt it deep inside where no man had ever penetrated. She felt it in her heart and in her soul.

She stood outside the door of the house where he was having dinner. Jesus was at a man’s house. The man, to her astonishment, was a leper. Jesus would talk to anyone.

But would he talk to her? The leper couldn’t help be a leper. She could help being a whore.

But she had to try.

She got her courage together and ran into the room and knelt at Jesus’ feet. She opened the walnut box and took out the perfume. She stood up, poured it on Jesus’ head and began to massage it in.

Jesus turned around and looked at her. He didn’t protest, nor did he necessarily encourage. But neither did he discourage.

Some people in the room got mad. They felt it was a waste. The perfume could have been sold and the money given to the poor. She figured they didn’t realize that it had been sold and a prostitute bought it. That was probably the only people who would. She realized she had made a mistake and started trying to figure out how to get away before Jesus got angry with her.

But he didn’t. Instead he looked – rather sharply, it seemed – at the men who said this. Then he told them to be quiet, that poor people would always be there, but that he wouldn’t. He said she anointed him for his burial. What did that mean? She didn’t know, but he seemed to like the fact that she had done this. And he looked at her with such love and compassion.

And for that, if nothing else, she loved him. She rubbed a little more, started getting self-conscious. Then she put the broken jar back into the walnut box and left quietly.

When she got back home, she sat for a while, looking at the box with the broken jar. Such a beautiful box. It even had a picture of some kind of winged lion on the bottom.

She put it on the shelf and sat quietly for some time.

the real spirit of the season

But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. This is why it says: “When he ascended on high, he led captives in his train and gave gifts to men.”
(What does “he ascended” mean except that he also descended to the lower, earthly regions? He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe.) It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. (Ephesians 4:7-13)

Nicholas of Myra was a bishop of the church in the fourth century. Myra was in what is now modern Turkey. He was a wealthy man with a lot of influence.

The story is told of a poor man with three daughters. His first daughter fell in love but he had no dowry to give her. This meant that she had to take a lesser husband, one who was able to ignore the shame of not having, like Maureen O’Hara called it in the movie Quiet Man, her fortune. The daughter and the man she wanted to marry were understandably grief-stricken.

As hard as it is for us to imagine in our culture today, this was of major import in that culture. Without her dowry, she was basically and bluntly sold. Her fortune gave her the ability to come into the marriage on a financially equal basis. Without it, she was without honor.

Nicholas came in the middle of the night and placed a bag of gold coins through the window of their house. The next morning, the man found them and the daughter was given the ability to choose her husband. But the father nor the daughter knew who had done it.

The same thing happened with the second daughter and the results were the same. Nicholas anonymously gave the money. The daughter married as she wanted.

The problem was that it drove the guy crazy wondering who had given that money. So when the third daughter came to marriage age, he went around and proclaimed his inability to pay a dowry, then waited to see what would happen. As Nicholas came by to give him the money, he saw who it was. Nicholas had wanted to remain anonymous but it was not to be. The man told everyone.

Nicholas was a man who was known for his generosity and this kind of set him free to practice that generosity in public.

From him came Saint Nick, or Santa Claus.

Giving gifts is a good thing and one which God approves. He, after all, is the Chief Gift-Giver. He gave his Son to us. He gives us salvation and holiness, righteousness and goodness – just for the asking.

Santa Claus is real, yes. But not like the commercial world says. The real Nicholas would not approve of the greed and absolute grasping for stuff that has come to characterize Christmas.

Not sure what to do about it, but I refuse to buy into it. I want to be like Nicholas and give what I have out of love.

That is the real spirit of the season – This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers (1 John 3:16). That is real giving.

born in a manger

While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them. (Luke 2:6-7)

Some more thoughts on that stable.

Hotel rooms were well known in that day, as they have been in other cultures, as b3ing flea-bitten, louse-ridden dens of thieves.

It was a favor to Joseph and Mary that they got to stay in a stable instead of a hotel room.

The stable was warm, there was plenty of straw to sleep on, the animals provided warmth. Contrary to the song, the manger was probably not cold, nor was the child shivering.

And more than likely, there were more than just Mary and Joseph there. Since everybody had to come home to register, there were a lot of  people in town, all looking for a place to sleep. And since there was no birth control, probably several women were pregnant. Add to that the fact that people traveled in groups for protection from thieves. There were probably a lot of people with them, a regular caravan.

Chances are high that Mary and Joseph shared this manger with other families and other babies were born that night.

That is the point of this humble birth. Jesus, the book of Hebrews says, was just like us. 1 Peter 2:22 says his lone point of difference was he committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.

That was his difference. His Father, after all, was God. He had both humanity and divinity in him. Colossians 2:9 said: For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form. Yet he was also human, born to a human mother and laid in a manger.

If it were otherwise, if he were totally divine and the birth was just a sham, then the life was just a sham, as was the death. And the book of Hebrews, when it says, 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 (4:14), and Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered (5:8) is worthless, a meaningless shadow play devoid of any real humanity.

Instead, God the Father wanted to touch humanity and participate in the experience. He wanted humanity to know that he understood what they were going through. So he sent God the Word to become manifest in the flesh (John 1:14) and be with us, live as we lived, be born as we are born, die as we die, yet do something we could not do – come back to life.

And in that coming back to life, he gave us also that ability to come back to life from our own death, to be with him in perfection, to 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. (Hebrews 4:16).

That is why he was born. Again, what a strange way to save the world.

daily java

Daily Java:  

While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them. (Luke 2:6-7)

The King of the universe born to transient parents in a homeless shelter and his birth announced only to shepherds.

It would seem that the Son of God being born would be a time of great jubilation. He would be born to wealthy parents who would be able to give him all of the education needed to credential him in the eyes of the world. He would have a world stage and millions would come to hear him. he would live a long life and finally die with one of the largest funerals known to mankind.

But no. he was conceived out of wedlock, born to transient parents in a homeless shelter, lived an obscure life in a little town in the middle of nowhere, had a brief three year ministry, then died a criminal’s death and was buried in a borrowed tomb.

As the song says, what a strange way to save the world.

1 Corinthians 1:18-25 says:

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.” Where is the wise person? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.

God’s plan worked, to put it mildly. Even though Jesus had such a brief ministry after such a plain life, the Christian faith is the largest single religion in the world, greater than any other. Time after time, people have tried to stamp it out, yet it remains. After persecution and government mandate, still it stays.

After 70 years of enforced atheism in the Soviet Union, the minute the wall came down and communism crumbled, up came the church. What had been large in secret became huge is public.

Even with the persecution of Christians in Muslim countries, the church is experiencing a revival with millions being brought to Jesus.

It cannot and it will not be stopped.

Humble though it may have been in its inception, it is massive and will continue until Jesus comes again.

daily java

Daily Java:  

Look! The LORD is coming from his dwelling place; he comes down and treads on the heights of the earth. The mountains melt beneath him and the valleys split apart, like wax before the fire, like water rushing down a slope. All this is because of Jacob’s transgression,  because of the sins of the people of Israel. (Micah 1:3-5)

It is amazing at the number of cartoons you see this Christmas season obsessing over gift-giving and stuff like that. People are scared to death that they will not give the right things or slight someone or not give enough. Kids have lists that are, as one cartoon showed it, in 2 point type, single spaced, back and front of the paper with a URL at the bottom directing you to a website with the rest.

The song Jolly Old Saint Nicholas is almost from another planet. Johnny wants a pair of skates, Susie wants a sled, Billy wants a picture book, yellow, blue and red. Show me the kid that wants something that simple.

Christmas has become a travesty of what it was intended to be. And Nicholas of Myra, the fourth century bishop that Santa Claus is modeled after has become a mockery of what he was intended to be.

Why do we give gifts in the first place. Two reasons come to mind.

One is that the wise men brought gifts to the baby Jesus. Three of them are mentioned. I really liked one celebrity telling that she only gave her children three gifts for Christmas because that was what Jesus got.

The other comes from the legend of Saint Nicholas. According to legend he gave three gifts to a man who needed the money for dowries for his three daughters but could not afford it. Again, the number three. I don’t think that is apocryphal in any way, but it is good for making a point.

The gifts are minor in the season. Or at least they should be. It is not what we give each other and how much we spend. It is that God gave to us.

The power of the gift of Jesus was enough to melt the mountains and split the valleys of our lives and our hearts. All because we had sinned.

Since we had sinned, there was no way to come before him any longer, because, after all, he is perfect and we are not. The holy cannot share space with the unholy.

But he wanted to be with us. Jesus came, a man like us yet sinless like God, and gave us the opportunity to be with him again, to touch him through the agency of Jesus.

That is what Christmas is about. Not a Nintendo system or other junk. That is minor and overblown.

Christmas has been co-opted by the merchandising people and made what it wasn’t supposed to be. Santa Claus like we see him is relatively recent and bears little or no resemblance to Nicholas except that he gives from him heart.

The difference was that Nicholas gave to need. Santa gives to greed.

The mountains melt and the valleys split before Santa Claus too, but they are mountains of common sense. We kill ourselves to buy everything our kids want and forget the whole point.

Now, this column will probably be etched into the hearts of people everywhere and will no doubt bring on a revival. Humanity will change and people’s hearts will be turned to the real reason for the season.

Not.

But it is right.

sunday java

Sunday Java: This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. (1 John 3:16)

Today is the Sunday of love. Next Saturday will be Christmas. Already. Seems like Halloween was just here. Thanksgiving was almost a blip. It is true what they say: time flies when you get older.

Today we celebrate love. And today in church many churches have their Christmas service, complete with Mary and Joseph and the baby Jesus, angels, shepherds, sheep, wise men – the whole thing.

But we have to remember the reason for this whole thing: the love of Jesus. God loved the world as John 3:16 says, but 1 John 3:16 (an interesting coincidence) says that Jesus allowed it, and that he loves us too.

He would sure have to love us to do what he did. After all, he gave up being face to face with God, equality with God (Philippians 2:5-9) and became a baby. And not just a baby, but for nine months before this, he was first an embryo, then a fetus, then a baby, then born.

As Mary looked on the face of God – this screaming, squalling baby with dirty diapers – what must she have thought? At times, it must seem like a dream to her, but too many people confirmed it. First the angel, then Elizabeth her elderly cousin who was bearing John the Baptizer, the dirty smelly shepherds, then Simeon and Anna in the temple when they took the baby in for his circumcision, then last of all, the wise men with phenomenal gifts.

Giving up heaven for here. Talk about your ultimate missionary work. From the face of God to the face of Mary. What a woman she must have been for God to choose her from all the women who ever lived or will ever live. And Joseph was no slouch, either. This was the man who was going to teach the child all his values.

And he gave all heaven up for us, so that he could bring us back to God. He became a man so he could touch us. He remained sinless so that he could touch God. And through him and his sacrifice, we can touch God. There is no other way to touch God except through him (Acts 4:12).

Without him, and without the remembrance of his gift, Christmas is worthless. It is just a commercial venture, no better than any other. With him, it marks the beginning of our access to God.

I love you, Lord, and I lift my voice to worship you, O my soul rejoice. Take joy my king in what you hear. Let it be a sweet, sweet sound in your ear.

Merry Christmas from Ella and me. Ho Ho Ho.

pix of a past Christmas Eve service

Abby and me at Liberty Christian in 1997

Ella and me at Liberty Christian 1997

daily java

Daily Java: 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)

I have been preparing the services for this Sunday. It will be our Christmas Sunday with several of the members doing stuff. There will be a couple of solos, some readings and one woman will do a sime. That is a combination of signing and miming and it is really quite pretty.

I have also been getting together things for Christmas Eve and the candle-light service. We do one every year and they are beautiful. We will serve communion, light all of the Advent candles, give everybody a candle and go out singing Silent Night.

I was raised in a denomination that didn’t believe in the Christian side of Christmas. I even pastored churches in it for 20 years. Oh, we had Santa Claus and a tree and all, sang Christmas carols – yet didn’t associate Christ with it. So I went to my first Christmas Eve service in 1992. I had not left that denomination yet, but I felt the need to go.

It was at Marvin Methodist in Tyler, TX and it was at Midnight. We got the kids together and went. It was absolutely beautiful. I had never been to anything like it. Afterwards, they served communion and I took the Lord’s Supper at another denomination for the first time in my life.

When we came out of the Church of Christ and into the Disciples of Christ, it came time for Christmas. I went all out. For the first time in my life, I was in a church that celebrated Christmas, complete with decorations and a tree and everything.

I carefully planned my first Christmas Eve service. It was well attended and it was a joy to me. we have had one every year since. It did amaze me though, that even though the next day, Christmas Day, was Sunday, people missed church to cook or get ready for company. In my wildest dreams I cannot imagine doing that.

I had planned a big blow out Sunday, and it was good. But the knowledge of people not being there for Christmas, of all things, blew me away.

That was 16 years ago. I have learned a lot since then. One thing I have learned is just because it seems like it will be special to me doesn’t mean it will be special to someone else. My values are different than others. For one thing, I will not miss church under any circumstances. Even when sick and unable to speak, I will still be there. And I surely wouldn’t miss Christmas or Easter, that is for certain.

I love the time of year and it has gone fast this year.. I am not sure why, but it seems like it was just Halloween and now it is the Sunday before Christmas. Fortunately, I have all my shopping done.

Although that is not the point of the season. But I still like to give Ella stuff and look for any reason to do so.

he stood at his workbench and knew it was time

This is something I wrote several years ago and may be the beginning of a book on Jesus.


He stood at his workbench and knew it was time.

He had felt the urgings for a couple of years now, getting stronger with each passing week.  He knew he had things to do outside of this small carpenter shop

His mother knew it too and had seen it coming for the last six months and dreaded the day when he left.  But the shop was going well, even though Joseph had passed away several years earlier.  James was old enough to take over now.  He didn't particularly like being second in command of the shop anyway.  The other boys were competent.  His mother would be taken care of. 

There was no reason why he should wait any longer.

He remembered being in this shop when he was younger, even as a baby.  He had a little set of carpenter's tools Joseph had made him and he "helped" his father make many a piece of furniture and build many a house.

He still had the first chair he had made.  It was over there in the corner.  His nieces and nephews liked sitting in it when they came to visit their parents in the shop.  They all wanted Uncle Jesus' chair.  It was special.

He looked around the shop he had grown to love.  It was a good place to work.  He and his brothers always did a good job, so they had a good reputation and a lot of business, even from as far away as Judea.  He had helped build Joseph's Carpenter Shop into a growing concern.

He would miss it.

The shop was empty.  He always closed up for his brothers, since they all had family to go home to and he didn't.  He like it because it gave some quiet time by himself.

He put the unfinished pieces in their places on and under the shelves.  He straightened the tools and dusted off the surfaces, then stood back and surveyed the shop.  In the growing dusk, it had such a golden quality: all the dust particles shining in the evening sun, the setting sun reflecting off the metal surfaces he kept polished.

Each of the brothers had learned this from Jesus.  He kept telling them that a workman was only as good as his tools, so they had to keep them in good order.  For the most part they had learned this, although Simon, the next to youngest seemed to have problems putting things away.  Jesus just didn't think he was cut out for the business.  He'll probably find something else to do with his life.

Well, he had tidied about all he could, had put off the inevitable as long as he could.  He took off his apron, folded it and put it in the bin with his name on it, and went to the door.  He had always said this shop had the best view of almost any around.  It had a good view of the hills around Nazareth, especially at sunset.  Over there was the vegetable garden his mother Mary and his sisters planted and cultivated.  It was nice, but he also like the flower bed that Rebekah, the sister closest to him took care of.  It was beautiful this time of year.

He would miss her, as well as Abigail and the other sisters.  They always fussed over him, since he had never married.  They knew he was special, although they really didn't know why.  They knew he was Mary's favorite, too, but they figured it was because he was oldest.

They had also heard rumors and stories about Mary being pregnant before she and Joseph were married, but they didn't care.  Small town people love to talk, but they didn't have to listen.

He stepped outside the door, turned and looked back inside one more time.  He shut the door and made sure it was latched closed.  No good to have it blow open in the night and have some animal wander in. It took them a while to clean it up last time that happened.

Mary was waiting for him at the kitchen door as she usually was even though he was a little later today.  She looked like she had a feeling of sadness on her today.  She had gone through a spell like that when Joseph had died a few years back but had bounced back.

He was always struck by how pretty she was.  Even in her mid-forties, she looked better than most of the girls around.  Fortunately her daughters had inherited that elegance and sweetness of disposition for the most part,  Of course, Judith had her father's nose, but she made up for it by being so vivacious.

She knew.  He could tell that she could see it on him.  He was going to leave.  She had known it wouldn't be long since Elizabeth had told her John had left to go out and preach in the desert.  The day she had been dreading for so long was here.  But she didn't say anything.

He sat down at the table and looked at her.  "It's time.  I have to leave", he said.

"But you don't have to go this minute, do you?  You can stay for supper."

"I thought that if I left, I could get to Nain before it was too late."  He was stalling.  He knew he would stay for supper.

"I made your favorite tonight," she said, "lamb stew.  You need to eat anyway and you can start tomorrow after breakfast."

"No," he replied, "I'll stay for supper and I guess I might as well spend the night here, but I'll be off tomorrow morning before everyone's up."

She brought his bowl and spoon to the table, along with some bread and a mug of wine.  She put a napkin by his plate thinking that he was sure the neatest one of her bunch.  Jesus watched Mary watch her first-born eat his stew.  He liked eating her lamb stew.  She could stretch less lamb more than any of the other mothers.  Of course, she'd had to learn to, a widow with eleven kids.   By now, of course, they were doing pretty well financially.  But some things die hard to a woman who has been in need.  She was not one to waste things, even now that they can afford to do so.

She took his bowl when he was finished and washed it out.  Dirt nor dirty dishes never stood a chance in her house, he thought with affection.

They sat and visited for a while as they always did after supper.  They talked of inconsequentials: the neighbors, some fabric she had seen at the store in town, an irrigation project Simon had talked about for her garden to keep it watered as summer got hotter.  He may not be much of a carpenter, but he sure has an engineering head on him, Jesus thought.  That is probably the life he will make for himself and his wife if he ever gets married.

Jesus stood and kissed his mother.  He  knew she regretted his not marrying and having kids.  Sometimes he did, too.  But the pull of the Mission was so strong in him, he knew he was better off not tangled up in a family and such.  He knew his Father had something for him to do, even if it was not yet clear to him.  God had told him that in the next couple of weeks it would become painfully clear.  First he had to go find John, his cousin. Then he had to ... well, he would think about that when it was time.  Tomorrow had enough worries of its own without worrying about it today, too.

He went to his room and closed the door.  It was a simple room with few possessions.  He never had need of much.  The furniture was well-made, but then, he had always had an eye for good quality.  He liked the feel and substantialness of good furniture and clothing, too for that matter.  Not that it really mattered.  He could sit on, sleep on and wear anything if need be.  He wasn't a proud man.

Jesus sat down and pulled off his sandals and sat them under the edge of his bed.  He took off his outer robe and stretched out on the bed for a moment, thinking about what was coming up.  He knew it was important and was what he was here for.  In prayer, God had told him that he didn't need to know the details yet, just that what he was going to do was of prophetic importance.

He got back up and read for a while in one of the scrolls he kept in his room until the light was no longer adequate.  He went back into the main room and got a twig of fire from the fireplace, came back to his room and lit his lamp, then read some more.

After a while, he spent an hour or so in prayer, especially praying for direction tomorrow morning.

His prayer finished, he stood up, stretched, stood for a moment aware that it was the last time he would do so as his mother's son.  Tomorrow he was off.  He packed his bag with the scroll he had been reading and a few other things he knew he would need.  His mother would probably have some food for him tomorrow morning, and no matter how early he got up, she'd be up first.  A good woman.  One of the reasons he'd waited until now was that his brothers would be able to keep the business going and take care of her.

Tomorrow was going to be the start of a great adventure.  God be praised.  He blew the lamp out, lay down on his bed and went to sleep.

daily java

Daily Java: And Mary said: “My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for the Mighty One has done great things for me — holy is his name.”  (Luke 1:46-47, 49)

Nothing good comes without effort of some kind. And sometimes the effort is downright painful.

It may be something as minor as the time spent in preparing a good supper. A couple of hours spent so that others can enjoy a well-prepared meal. It may be something as major as labor in childbirth. It may even be something as massive as self-sacrifice so that someone else might live.

The effort of getting in shape is painful. The old body-building expression is “no pain, no gain.” And like the old expression says, anything worth having is worth working for.

When we pray to God that he use us to his glory, we don’t often consider all of the ramifications of the prayer. We are praying, when we say that, that we can become an instrument of God. And sometimes being an instrument of God can be painful.

There is not one man in the Old Testament who, upon accepting the position of prophet, did not endure a lot of personal pain. It may have been relatively minor in being rejected or it could have been outright, active persecution, but all prophets had problems.

All were glad they had taken the job (except maybe Jonah), but all recognized the pain and rejection inherent in being a prophet of God.

Becoming a preacher was a lot easier than staying one. Not only was there the initial effort of studying and memorizing and stuff in seminary, but then there was the life of separation. There was the knowledge that while you are part of the church, you really aren’t either. The realization that you had taken on the job of prophet soon comes strong to your mind.

This comes the first time someone disagrees with you on something you preached and because of it decides to try to get you fired. Or gets mad at you, or whatever. Being an instrument of God is not an easy task.

In Isaiah 6, Isaiah heard God asking for volunteers to take his word to his people. Isaiah said, Here am I. Send me! He was ready to go. It wasn’t long, however, before he found out that it was a harder job than he thought.

God told him that the people to whom he was sent would not listen, they would be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving.  His job: Make the heart of this people calloused; make their ears dull and close their eyes.

Isaiah asked how long would he need to do this. God’s reply: Until the cities lie ruined and without inhabitant, until the houses are left deserted  and the fields ruined and ravaged, until the LORD has sent everyone far away and the land is utterly forsaken.

This has been the case for all prophets and for all who bring his word to those around.

And so it was with Mary. Even though it would be painful for her and for those who loved her, Mary still was willing and grateful to be the instrument of God. Great things would come from her own personal pain sacrificed for her God.

I am glad to have taken on the mantle of pastor. It has not been easy. People do not really want to hear the word of God. I mean, on one hand they do, but on the other hand, they do not. as the Bible says many places, truth hurts. And some people, in fact most people, do not like the pain associated with anything, whether good or not.

I want to be like Mary. I want to take what God gives me and give it to others no matter the personal pain.

But I know that there is and will be pain involved. Here am I. Send me! And I glorify the Lord.

things jesus said that were strange

Leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is demon-possessed and suffering terribly.” Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples came to him and urged him, “Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us.” He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.” The woman came and knelt before him. “Lord, help me!” she said. He replied, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.” “Yes it is, Lord,” she said. “Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.” Then Jesus said to her, “Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.” And her daughter was healed at that moment.  (Matthew 15:22-28)

Some of the things Jesus said were so strange. This is one of them.

A woman who was not Jewish came asking for a miracle. Jesus, in essence, likened her to a dog. Her response: even dogs have feelings and needs. At this response, Jesus granted her request.

Why would Jesus say something so ugly? It seems completely out of character with a man who, the Bible says, was the living embodiment of God’s love. This did not sound loving.

In this chapter, Jesus just got through telling people that it is not what they eat that hurts them, it is what they think and what they say. He goes from here to a place where he feeds four thousand men along with their wives and children from just a small bit of food.

In other words, he goes from a place where he tells everybody that what they say will hurt them and then he says something that seems so unkind. He goes from there to a place where he feeds everybody present, yet he at first doesn’t want to feed this woman.

Jesus is a study in contradictions in many of the things he says. Here is one good example.

And one thing is for sure, I do not know why he did this exactly. You can read 17 commentaries on Matthew 15 and its parallel passage in Mark 7, and you can see 17 different ideas why he said this. They all differ on points and everyone of the writers got a check, but they still do not know why.

Deuteronomy 29:29 says The secret things belong to the LORD our God. And that is absolutely true. There are many things in the Bible that make us scratch our heads, or that seem almost incomprehensible. Some things get better the more we meditate on them, and some don’t. They remain hard.

When Peter wrote his second epistle, he made mention of the fact that the apostle Paul was hard reading at times. He said: His [Paul's] letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction. (2 Peter 3:16).

That applied to Paul and it applied to others. Peter was in general pretty simple, but there are a lot of things that you just do not understand. His own chapter 2 of his second epistle is not exactly easy stuff itself. People who do not understand what they are talking about make a lot of these passages and in doing so, merely show their ignorance and their instability. Unfortunately, they are the ones who so often get published.

It could be that Jesus was using this to show everyone around that this was a woman who truly believed in the power of God and was persistent like he told us to be in petitioning God. I do not know if Jesus, the man, had this much power to see things or not. But maybe he could see that this was not an ordinary woman.

Maybe his human side disregarded her at first and he just dismissed her. This was what the apostles kept telling him to do. He could have walked away and no one would have said a word about it, including the woman. She wasn’t, after all, a Jew in the first place.

Maybe God spoke to him about her. Maybe it was a morality play on faith. Maybe he was foreshadowing the turning to the Gentiles. Maybe a lot of stuff, but whatever the reason, he rejected her, then accepted her.

But whatever the reason, it was odd wording. But he still was from a God who loved us.

That much we know.

pray continually

Pray continually (1 Thessalonians 5:17).

I met Garth Brooks at a music store in Tulsa a few years ago. I was buying strings for my guitar and he was buying a lot of stuff to go on tour with.

Oddly enough, I had been thinking about him. I had seen this article in one of those checkout rags (I, of course, never read them, of course, just in the checkout line, of course – wink, wink, nudge, nudge) about him and his wife having such trouble.

If you remember, this was probably 7 or 8 years ago, he was acting like an idiot and she left him. I told him that I had seen that and was praying for him.

Since I am not a country fan (I didn’t tell him that) I didn’t gush. And I have met and talked to enough famous and “important” people I don’t anyway.

Long story short (too late), he stood there and told me all his problems and all the things he was trying to do to reconcile his marriage. He talked almost an hour to me while we stood there.

When he was through, we shook hands and said good bye.

It was an odd conversation, considering that he didn’t know me from Adam (although I was wearing clothes) and the conversation would probably not go anywhere. But we talked for quite a while.

I suppose that my opening comment was different from any other he had gotten. I told him I had been thinking about him and had read the articles in the magazines about him and his wife. I also told him that I knew most of that was made up and you needed to half it just to make sure you had the gist.

But I also told him that even if I cut the hype in half, it was obvious that he was having trouble, and that I was praying for him. There are not many who do that, I suppose. I didn’t even ask for his autograph.

The same thing happened when I met James Doohan (Scotty from Star Trek) at a Trek Con in Tulsa that same year. When I went up to his table (to get an autograph this time), I told him that I had known his character for longer than I had even known my wife, that he had been such an integral part of my life. And I told him that I was praying for him and hoped he was happy.

He looked at me for a moment, took my hand for a moment – until his handler or agent or whatever made a noise – and then I left.

People are dying to know that someone is praying for them. Even Christopher Hitchens, the famous atheist who is currently dying of cancer, was pleased in a way when he found out that many were praying for him. It touched him on that basic level that all men have, no matter what they profess – that level that really knows God is real.

Several years ago, we prayed for a woman to be healed. She was in the hospital and quite ill. She got out the next day. I told her we were praying for her. She said, oh, I know prayer helps. I said, laughing, oh no. Prayer doesn’t help. Prayer heals. You are out of the hospital, aren’t you? She got the most puzzled look on her face. It suddenly dawned on her that something had happened.

We pray knowing that every time we do, God hears. He may not tell us what we want to hear, he may not even answer us at all, but he hears.

Thank you, Lord.

what i am drinking right now

Right now I am drinking Seattle Roast coffee from Ah Roma!, a roastery in Lincoln. It is a good grind, very strong and rich. I like it.

It is hard to get the coffee ground right, though. I like to buy it in smaller amounts and grind it at the store, as all I have at home is a small grinder that heats the coffee up more than I want when it grinds it.

But so far, I have only found two or three grocery stores in all of Lincoln that have the right kind of grind.

I like a very fine grind, espresso or even Turkish grind. The coffee comes out stronger with less that way. And I like to use the same coffee for regular drinking and espresso. Regular grind will not make espresso coffee worth a flip since it requires a very fine, almost powder grind.

I also like a very strong, rich coffee, no cream or sugar. And this Seattle Roast from Ah Roma is just what I like.

At this moment, the Super Saver on Cornhusker seems to have both the best grinder and Ah Roma! Coffee. And at about $2 a pound cheaper than Millstone, it is a good deal.

I am drinking some right now, as I write.

Slurp.

daily java

Daily Java: Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:12-14)

Not too long ago, I began the process of downscaling. The spellcheck in the MS Word program liked the word downscale so I suppose that is what it is called.

I decided four or five years ago that I was going to get rid of things I did not need. The main target of my energies would be my library.

I have always had an extensive library, at times reaching almost a thousand books. It has gotten in the past to where I needed an extra trailer to carry them all when I moved. In my office, I have always been forced to add extra shelves to accommodate them all. They have, at times, been a source of pride. Look how smart I am, with all these books. Preachers love their books.

It is not that I haven’t used them, but their presence always soothed me, made me feel more the scholar. People would come in and exclaim over the volumes. Did you read all these books, they would ask. No, I would reply modestly, but I have read from all of them.

And I did. And they were useful. But lately (the last ten years or so) I have begun to notice that they were almost more of a hindrance than a help. There were just so many.

On top of all that, I had come to the point that they were part of my life definition. I loved to rearrange them and look at them, to pick one up and read a bit, to move them around. When it came time to move (as we did frequently, coming from a denomination that did not value longevity in a preacher), I could pack them in a couple of hours. They were rapidly becoming an idol.

It took longer to unpack them, but that was because I lovingly arranged them along with all of the toys, tschotskes, stuff that were on the shelf with them. The attendant stuff took up a few boxes themselves. All in all, my library took up over 20 boxes. I preferred banana boxes for their strength.

A fat lot of stuff that for the most part, looked backward.

The writer of Ecclesiastes said, The words of the wise are like goads, their collected sayings like firmly embedded nails – given by one shepherd. Be warned, my son, of anything in addition to them. Of making many books there is no end, and much study wearies the body. (12:11-12)

Finally one day, that came home to me. We were living in a temporary house while I was undergoing credentialing process in the Assemblies of God and one room was full of boxes. Many of them were books. I had been going to the internet more and more for my study materials. I decided that these were something I could live without.

Ella and I cataloged them and priced them on a sheet which I took to the Bible department of a nearby Christian college. Like I would have done when I was in a Bible department, they fell on the list like wolves. I sold the whole lot to a young graduate student. I got far less than they were worth, but his obvious pleasure and – this was the kicker – he said he was going to send parts of the collection to missionaries. Sucker that I am, I practically gave him the library.

Over 30 years of accumulated books gone in thirty minutes.

I kept a few, less than 200, three shelves full, things like my Hebrew and Greek stuff. Some of the stuff I kept is kind of odd really. I had already given away many of my toys, swords, knick knacks – things that people expressed an interest in. If I thought they would like it, I gave it to them.

In general, I got rid of too much. It was almost wrenching. There were some books I was a fool to get rid of. But at the same time, liberating. It got my library down to four or five boxes, toys and all.

Sooner or later you move away from the old and you embrace the new. You press on to the prize. In my case, the prize was getting rid of everything before I die.

The only problem is that other stuff comes in to take its place. I am not sure why, but it is true. I suppose that the world sees me as a collector, so I collect.

I would like to give everything away before I die, though. I won’t need it where I am going.