January Thanksgiving

"They were also to stand every morning to thank and praise the LORD. They were to do the same in the evening" (1 Chronicles 23:30 NIV). Last week every woman at a Bible study I attend shared a praise or thanks for something or someone in 2010. Choosing just one thing presented the challenge. All present had had her share of trouble and challenge and heartbreak in 2010, but we chose to focus on the good and lay aside the bad and the ugly. One dear friend said she was thankful for the gospel. When the Levitical priests stood to thank and praise God morning and night, the gospel was yet future. Unlike us, they couldn't look back to the cross and know that there Christ dealt with every sin and heartache we or they would ever know. He dealt death its death blow. How much more should we "stand every morning to to thank and praise the LORD...(and) do the same in the evening." How did you start or end your day today?

Photograph by Jim Roetzel, 2010.

HAPPY NEW YEAR?

By truer reckoning, it's 28 Tevet and the year is 5771. There's no doubt in my mind that the Jewish calendar is more accurate, but some of us have enough trouble with a leap year coming along every four years. To deal with Adar II and then other changes every 19th year would push us over the edge. So, my fellow blogsters, Happy New Year! Or Happy Current Year! Did you make any New Year's resolutions? Me neither. I find few uses of the word "resolve" and its derivatives in the NIV translation of the Bible, but two stand out. When the apostle Paul went to the early Christian church in Corinth, he said, "I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified" (1 Corinthians 2:2). Everything pales in comparison to the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ made a resolution once. "As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem" (Luke 9:51, emphasis added). What Paul resolved to know, Jesus resolved to do. If I make any resolution for this year I want it to echo Paul's--whatever 2011 or the rest of 5771 brings. Soli Deo Gloria.

Christmas at the Crucifixion

As Jesus Christ died for us on the cross, the gospel of Matthew says, "the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom" (Matthew 27:51 KJV). The astute writer of Hebrews didn't want us to miss the point. "Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh...Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith" (Hebrews 10:19-20, 22 KJV).

Song writers of centuries past knew their Bibles and knew their theology. The next time you join to sing "Hark, the Herald Angels Sing," you'll know exactly what Charles Wesley meant when he penned the words:

"Veiled in flesh, the Godhead see; Hail the incarnate Diety!

Pleased as man with men to dwell,

Jesus, our Emmanuel!"

When the flesh of Jesus Christ was "rent" for us, there was God. Rejoice in the Christ of Christmas, the Cross, and the Resurrection.

HALLELUJAH!

Have you seen and listened to some of these RANDOM ACTS OF CULTURE on YouTube? Marvelous renditions of Handel's Hallelujah Chorus have filled malls throughout the USA. We associate the Hallelujah Chorus with Christmas, but its place in the Messiah musical narrative comes at the celebration of Christ's resurrection, not at His birth in Bethlehem.

How appropriate that we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ at Christmas. The death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ makes Christmas worth celebrating.

"For the Lord God omnipotent reigneth" (Revelation 19:6 KJV). Hallelujah!

From Telegraph to Texting to Neither

Do you remember Samuel Morse and his history-changing invention? On BING it says his invention, the telegraph, did a number of things, not the least of which was to make it easier for businessmen to operate more profitably.

Other than having to learn the Morse code, do you know what short-circuited the telegraph?

The telephone.

A person could call another person and TALK to him or her. Each knew not only what the other person said, but how she said it.

Now we have texting. We've forfeited voice contact to (again) let our fingers do the talking. Vocal inflection is lost and--BTW--have you checked the deterioration of spelling and grammatical skills? Our literacy skills have sunk to less than the standard 6th grade reading level. No offense to you sixth graders out there.

God has given us a written Word to know Him. He did us one better. He sent His Son--a living, talking person to communicate to us and with us. No dashes, no dots, no txt msg. That verbal, face to face thing will happen again. Ready to live without the telegraph, the telephone, or texting? The day is coming....

"The Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout" (1 Thessalonians 4:16 KJV) and "every eye will see him" (Revelation 1:7 NIV).

ASSURANCE & TERROR

As November begins, most of the corn is harvested. There's one field nearby where we're sure some big bucks--and some does too--are eating well. We see deer on a regular basis now. Just so they see us--when we're in the car AT NIGHT and driving close to where they happen to be loitering. Deer have nothing to do with the topic at hand today. Just musing a bit.... Yesterday as we considered God in the affairs of men in the books of Joshua, Judges, and a bit in the Samuels, I was struck again by God's transcendence and His immanence. God alone is sovereign. He orders all things. That "the affairs of men" phrase is something of a misnomer. To say He's both transcendent and immanent makes it clear He's ordering it all, and we're "ordering" nothing at all. There's assurance in that knowledge--and terror. God is the only Sovereign. Thankfully, the only Sovereign is also good. And therein lies our hope.

TOP DOG

"Try something new every year after you turn 30." That's advice I heard waaaay back when I was 30. I did for a few years, but then I missed a couple years...or maybe a decade or so. This weekend I was able to do that "something new" for this year: TOOK A RIDE IN A COMBINE! I gotta tell you, it's a ride like no other. I sat perched in that Pexiglas-enclosed cab a good 10 feet above the corn that crumbled like crackers in the mouth of a toothy three-year-old. Corn stalks, huge weeds, and small trees that had sprung up over the summer were no match for that combine head as it effortlessly plowed and chewed its way through acres of harvestable maize. I peppered the poor farmer/neighbor, Ray, with as many questions as corn ears in a section row. (A "section," for you city slickers, is a square mile of field: 640 acres.) The combine might be easily heard inside our house, but riding in the thing seemed quieter somehow. Weird. Digital readouts kept Ray and his eager rider abreast of the corn yield, its moisture, and how many bushels were filling up the hopper behind us. When the time came, Ray's son, Dustin, rode alongside us in their tractor pulling another big hopper. Saves Ray (and all farmers who do this, who are many) the time it takes to stop and load a waiting truck, although he still has to do that too. There we were: two huge pieces of farming equipment navigating the fields in perfect tandem. Awesome driving! Makes those NASCAR drivers look like what they do is kid stuff. When Ray did stop to load corn into the waiting truck, I remarked, "Look at the chaff blowing away." "Red dog," Ray said. "I've always call it 'red dog.'" He corrected me gently; chaff is the "red dog," you might say, of wheat. It's nice to feel like a TOP DOG sometimes, but I know one thing better: I don't want to be "red dog" when it comes to Kingdom business: the Kingdom of God. My goal is to be the real thing, the corn or the wheat, not the red dog or the chaff, in the eyes of Jesus. How about you? October 8, 2010